


Living in Another World

by Wayward_Gurl



Series: Signum: People From Earth Collections [1]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Fallout (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fallout, Crossover, Explicit Language, Fluff and Smut, Gen, Humor, Lyrium is called blue pill, Modern Boy in Thedas, Modern Character in Thedas, Modern Girl in Thedas, Modern Guy in Thedas, No pairings yet - Freeform, Pre-Dragon Age: Inquisition, Science Experiments, Ser Pounce-A-Lot the 2nd, Shameless Smut, Shooting Guns, offensive language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-01-05 13:36:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 91,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12190956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wayward_Gurl/pseuds/Wayward_Gurl
Summary: There's a rumor of a strange group of people living inside an abandoned thaig deep within the Vinmark mountains. They come to the world as common merchants, but with their own bizarre items. Their equipment had to be the most curious thing as it would spit out metal and kill a person with one shot. They have these strange black devices that would take time-frozen pictures. Though Thedosians are afraid of them, they are kind and friendly folks... as long as you don't piss them off.Modern Earth People living in Thedas, trying to integrate into Thedas. It's too soon to tell if it's going well...or totally wrong.Notice: Ratings change due to mature tags





	1. Helping The Dalish

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"The crops grew more abundant than last time. See? Druffalo shit works just fine."

Daniel cringed a bit as he hoisted the sack of recently picked crops and elfroots on the cart.  "Marty, I don't want to hear that the food we eat was grown with druffalo shit, and you praising the stuff."

"Hey, it's better than human shit."

"Haha, now please don't remind me of that…" Daniel said as he recalled for the first couple of years, they had to use their own shit to farm.  Composting and stuff.

It has been nearly 6 years since the humans of Earth arrived in this strange world of Thedas and they were still strangers to this world, because there were a few rules that they needed to follow.

  1. The Natives are not to know they are from Earth
  2. The Natives are not to have possession of guns or the gunpowder, or any weapons advance of their time
  3. Do not get involved in any problems. Look after only Earth citizens



Following these rules will keep Sigma Outpost alive and living in safety.  The darkspawn would only be just a pest problem compared to the native countries that might come to attack them for being foreign settlers. After all, they’ve already claimed this gigantic abandoned _thaig_ as their home and made plenty of renovations to make it more accommodating for them.

Thankfully, the rules didn't say that Earth citizens can't make contact with the natives. The people had to learn to blend in after all.

Every week, each trading cart would go to three different routes. The two would go to populated cities while the other would head straight into the woods to meet with the Dalish for barter. The Dalish would receive crates of elf roots, embrium, and laurel prophets in exchange for poultices, medicine, balms, and maybe even some information.

Daniel went with the cart that would trade with the Dalish. He knew the elves there: Tamnar and Mahanon. Tamnar’s the old trader, and Mahanon was the hunter that guarded the small regime for trade, though lately he and Daniel had been more like buddies. Placing bets and stuff. It helped that there weren’t any prejudices, though occasionally Mahanon would call him a shem when he did something stupid. The trading would take longer because the two would goof around, and Marty or Tamnar had to tell them off…or Sudoku hits them, whichever works better.

They waited at the river where the Dalish trade would usually arrive by now.

…But this time, they didn't. Daniel checked his watch. The Dalish was supposed to come around between 8-ish or 9-ish, but it was already 11:15.

 

"Something's wrong… Come on," Daniel said, leading them away from their spot as they took the trail where he knew the Dalish would be. He knew because he stalked them home—one time only. He wanted to see where they stay at but of course they move around a lot.

"Do you think something happened to them?" Arnav, a long-time friend of Daniel, asked as they easily crossed over the stone bridge of the river, going deeper into the forest.

Daniel shrugged. "I don't know. They're elves. Dalish elves. They don't exactly have a good reputation in Thedas…"

"They're always subject to an attack." Sudoku added as she loaded her rifle and cocked it, ready for anything as her narrowed almond eyes scanned the forest that surrounded them. "They are treated like savages… If anyone hurts them, I’m aiming for their heads."

The three men looked at each other for a moment as things had drastically escalated. Then, Marty let out a hearty laugh before he pointed out, "You really like that one elf, don't you?"

Ah. Mahanon.

"That's not why I'm upset!" Sudoku snapped, turning her head away.

Arnav laughed but quickly stopped when she aimed the rifle at him. He waved his arms frantically to simmer her down. "Whoa, whoa, hold on, I'm sure everything is fine, and that they're probably late--"

An arrow zipped by, hitting their cart. It was a warning shot. They all stopped moving, looking at the Dalish arrow.

"…Or we get ambushed." Arnav finished.

They stayed where they were as the Dalish elves started coming out from their hiding spots. It was indeed the Lavellan Clan that they were trading with. Daniel and the others lowered their weapons. There was no need to use these against them. Daniel even placed the rifle behind the back holster.

He took a step forwards, holding his hands up. "Hey, easy, it's just us."

"Halt! Take no more steps." The one with the bow and arrow said, aiming it at them. "Where are Tamnar and the others?"

"That's what we wanted to know," Daniel explained. "Don't believe us? We have our wagon of goods, and we just needed to trade them for what he promised. You can inspect it, but I'm telling you the truth, we haven't seen them all day."

Arnav then added, "Which was why we came looking for you. Did something happen to them?"

The elves stayed armed for a moment before finally they lowered their weapons. The hunter in charge began explaining, "I am Lesas, and Tamnar is my uncle. We thought they should be back by now so we came looking for them too, but we only saw their wagon, empty and destroyed. No sign of them… Our _First_ went to track you down and we tried to follow after her, but we found you instead."

"Seems like she's tracking the real captors instead of us," Sudoku pointed out.

Daniel thought about it before proposing, "How about this? Take us to the spot and we'll find them ourselves."

"No. We don't need shemlen help." One said.

And the human shrugged. "Too bad. You're getting it. Besides, the more of us means we can cover grounds faster, and _we_ are absolutely good in tracking. We also know this area more, and plus, we can give you the wagon provided you'll hold your end of the bargain another time…"

The elves looked at each other, perhaps unsure to trust the humans, but Tamnar have spoken good things about them. They shared with him strange alcoholic drinks and there were a couple times when Tamnar brought home freshly baked deserts. Mahanon, who always went with Tamnar on these trades, also respected them.

"…Alright." Lesas agreed.

They made their way to the spot where they were taken, and as Lesas have said, the wagon is broken and everything was empty. However, there was a trail of broken branches. It was a good start if any to start tracking.

"Marty just go with them. We'll come get you once we find Tamnar," Daniel said, handing a pistol to the old gardener.

Marty was not happy with this arrangement but what choice did he have? "You three better come back, or the Commander will have my head."

"My old man is not going to do anything to you, Marty. No, he's going to skin me first," Daniel said, smiling jokingly.

“That is true! Haha!” Marty laughed as he went away with the other Dalish, leading him back to the clan but Lesas stayed with them. Daniel started leading, tracking down the unseen trail. It was quiet.

Lesas then spoke, "You shemlen are strange folk."

"...Thank you?" Daniel responded questionably while the other two laughed.

"It's not a compliment nor was it funny, " the Hunter said. "It's just.... not many shemlen would trade with us, and never for this long. Plus, you give us more than what we need, more than what we could afford to trade."

"We always grow more than we need. It would either get used or it would rot in the cart." Arnav told him like it's no big deal.

Lesas frowned thoughtfully. “You must have large fields to grow so many. They are quite large too.”

Only they know that it’s not too large of a greenhouse.

Daniel had to give credit to the Research Medical & Lab, also known as RML, for all the improvements contributed to their better living conditions of Signum. Their job was to utilize Thedas resources into human modern advancement. From what his father had said, they were working wonders.

“Look.” Sudoku pointed out with her rifle. Daniel checked to see and there were definitely tracks of people, some stomping and some dragging. These prints were recent enough and perhaps whoever took them went that way.

“Let’s move.” Daniel spoke as he led the way with the others following closely.

Lesas was curious at the metal weapons they were holding. It was unlike anything he had ever seen. “What are those that you three are holding?”

“Something that your world isn’t ready for.” Arnav answered and Sudoku only hushed them. “Quiet. I think there’s people nearby.”

Sudoku was some sort of _tsundere_ with the best intuition. If she thinks there is something, they are usually more cautious of what would come next. Sure enough, beyond the trees, there was an open field where there was a caravan of caged carts and people in it. Tamnar and Mahanon were among them in the cage, shackled and wounded.

Currently, there was one female elf standing against eight other ruthless men.

“Fenedhis! Tevinter bastards!” Lesas cursed under his breath. “Not good, we are outnumbered and—Hey!”

The elf didn’t get to finish calculating their chances when Daniel stepped out of the woods, walking into plain sight. Arnav and Sudoku casually followed right behind, and reluctantly, Lesas caught up to them, already having his bow and arrow aimed at the enemies.

The battle paused when they noticed the arrival of four, entering the field. The other elf that could be the First turned to them, thinking them as more enemies but saw that Lesas was with them. “Lesas?”

“Ellana!”

“Oh great!” The nicely and royally dressed among them spoke in a frustrated tone. “More of them! …But you three look to be human. I don’t know who you all are, but I suggest you all leave if you value your lives. You can leave that elf with us though. I can pay you all for it since you all look like reasonable--”

Arnav snapped, “Cut the crap!”

“P-Pardon!?” The _Tevinter_ squawked.

“Excuse us, but we can’t help to notice that you have some of our friends in your cages.” Daniel proceeded, wearing a friendly face and a gentle, _patient_ smile. “We would like you to release, not only them, but everyone from those cages if you don’t mind.”

The Tevinter wasn’t amused by this suggestion. “And what makes you think I’ll just do what you requested?”

“Oh I’m not requesting. I’m giving you a choice. Let them all go and be on your way with your goons,” Daniel explained the first choice, gesturing the way out that was north before swaying his hand the other way, “ _Or_ … We just take them anyway and kill all of you.”

Meanwhile, the elves and captured slaves listening to this felt dread and hope at the same time. The threat and the cheery smile on that human’s face did not match well.

Mahanon, who has been a silent spectator, watched in awe. He hadn’t ever seen a threatening side to Daniel, and how amiable he was to this enemy, it was quite unnerving and frightening. However, he was admiring him because he was demanding for their freedom.

The Head Slaver had just about enough. “I do not have time for this. Kill them! What do you think I pay you all for—!”

**_BANG!!_ **

Ellana, who had no clue what was happening, took a step back in shock, covering her mouth. And she wasn’t the only one. Each and every person had just witnessed the most gruesome sight of their lives when Daniel held up this weapon and aimed it at the Tevinter. Something must have flown out from it because in a millisecond, the Tevinter’s head exploded. There was a gaping hole on his forehead and blood spurted everywhere before his body fell to the ground lifelessly.

Screams all around and the Tevinter’s hired goons stumbled and moved away from the dead body. They were _freaking_ _out_ , Sudoku noted until Daniel shouted, “ _QUIET!!_ ”

He got their attention, and now all three aimed at the other slavers.

Daniel was no longer smiling, and Mahanon thought that that had to be the most haunting expression.

“…I won’t tell you a second time. Release the prisoners. _NOW_.”

 

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“…Who are you people?” Ellana asked.

Daniel blinked. “…Uhm… We’re the ones that were trading with Tamnar. Remember?”

“Don’t act stupid! That’s not what I meant!” She snapped at him.

Currently, they were heading back now to the Lavellan camp. They had their guns holstered as to not frighten the other people they have with them. Other than Mahanon, Tamnar, and two more Lavellan elves, there were twelve slaves that they had released from the cages. Five of them ran off, afraid of Daniel and the others. That left them with five humans and two elves. The two elves will be staying with the Lavellan, and Danielle was going to have to convince his old man to let the five slaves stay with them in Signum.

“We are not your enemy,” Sudoku stated then she turned to Mahanon. “Right?”

Mahanon paused a moment at that as he recalled how—after they were released—the three of them did a strip search on the remaining slavers, taking all their weapons and armor, and leaving them only their clothing. One tried to attack Sudoku, but that ended up being his last big mistake as she outmaneuvered him and broke his neck with her bare hands.

It took a moment for the elf to respond. “No, you are not… but you are frightening.”

She tilted her head. “Hm. I will take that as a compliment.”

Mahanon smiled.

“Regardless,” Tamnar began speaking. “We are grateful for you three stepping in… if you had not, Ellana would have been taken along with all of us to Tevinter.”

Ellana turned to the old elf. “I had everything under control. I could have saved you all without their assistance.”

“No, you couldn’t.” Both Daniel and Mahanon said at that at the same time. They looked at each other and then grinned. They were definitely like brothers.

Ellana was not amused as she pouted, fuming.

They arrived back at the Lavellan camp and there was great relief amongst the community. The Keeper went immediately over to Tamnar to find out everything that had happened and she listened to every single detail. Tamnar left none out, which worried Daniel a bit since they wanted to keep trading with the Dalish. They relied on their health potions.

At the end of the day, the Lavellan gathered a meager basket of the items they owed to Signum.

“It is not much, but this is our reserve.” The Keeper said as they were handed the basket. “We will repay the amount by the next trades-meet.”

“We are only glad that your people are safe.” Daniel amiably responded and he bowed his head.

They made their way back to Signum with Marty complaining about how long it took them, and also for bringing along Thedosians back to the base, but where were they supposed to go? And if they took them to other cities, they would be living in the streets and probably starved themselves. These people looked at him like they didn’t know what to do, because they were slaves all their lives. He was going to make sure that that changes.

Besides, it’d be good to know more about Thedas from their perspective.

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	2. An Update on Signum's Lyrium

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“This is unprecedented!”

Daniel crossed his arms. “Everything is unprecedented here. This is a whole new world, remember?”

“Don’t give me that smartass mouth! You know what I mean!” The Irish director shouted, turning red now from all frustration and stress. Meanwhile, Daniel’s father stood, silently watching the scene unfold.

Mr. Hudson paced a bit before slamming a fist on his desk. “You think you could make all the decisions here.”

“Now hold on, Director Hudson,” He started defending himself. “These were slaves. We’re not about to toss them into a random human kingdom to fend for themselves in the streets. They’ll end up dead.”

Hudson shook his head in disbelief. “You know they have Churches there, right?”

“Those churches are called _Chantries_ and the nuns there could hardly feed themselves, let alone feed poor bastards on the streets.”

“So that gave you the right to sneak them into the base passed security?”

“Security let us in and so did some members of the civil liberties group.” Daniel added, leaning away from the Director, who was now livid.

The Director slammed his fist on the table. “That’s enough! I want them out! _Now!_ ”

“Easy Hudson, you’re going to break my table.” Finally, the Commander of Signum spoke.

Hudson was calming down now but he was still fueling in rage inside despite the façade. “…Earth citizens always come first, _Adam_. Your son could have endangered our secret.”

“There has always been a danger, Hudson, of our secret being found by Thedosians, especially since we’re setting up trade with them, claiming that we’re just a town in the middle of nowhere that they can’t find… We can’t kick them out now, Hudson. The Civil Liberties group are already integrating these former slaves into our society where they can have better livelihoods,” Adam _Soto_ explained calmly to the Director, and it was obvious to most that his father was the one mostly in charge. Supposedly it’d be the Director’s word is final, but his father had equal footing against him since the incident five years ago. Plus, not many people still trusted Hudson. He was only here because Daniel’s father supported him.

“However,” Commander Soto continued as he faced his son, “Daniel, you will be suspended from work for five days for the actions you pulled without consulting to any of your superiors, including Director Hudson here.”

Daniel cringed at that. Always had to be fair, and he could see Hudson hiding a small smile. Bastard. “…I thought you wanted me to do some work for the RML this week after meeting with the Dalish.”

“I do. You’ll just have to get Sudoku and Arnav to do it. Have them take another company in your place while you assist RML and also make sure our new citizens are adapting well into our society,” He ordered his son, basically giving him a job that he won’t be getting paid for, and then he smiled. “Sudoku’s in charge for now, of course... Now, Director Hudson, is there anything else you would like to discuss?

“Nothing more.” The Irish Director got what he wanted as he left the room.

Daniel let out an exasperated sigh as he leaned against the table. “Really, Dad? This is like getting grounded, and I’m 23 years old.”

“Then you shouldn’t have let those Thedosians in.” He pointed out as he shuffled through the papers on his desk before taking a seat.

His son rolled his eyes. “You would have done the same thing!”

“I would. And I wouldn’t have been grounded,” He teased, looking up at his son. “Don’t get me wrong, son. You did a good thing. God only knows what those folks had gone through, and it might be good for them to have the friendly face of one of their rescuers showing them how to live here. They are your responsibility, Daniel.”

“…Fine. I mean, it’s just for five days. How bad can it be?”

“See!” He leaned over and punched his son’s arm lovingly. “That’s the spirit! Now, go check on RML first, see what they want.”

“Yes, sir.” Daniel groaned a bit, still bummed out from the suspension but he left the office without much argument. He knew it’d be useless to fight his case unless he wanted his father to add more suspended days—which is something he didn’t want.

Walking with his two buddies and explaining the situation, Sudoku shook her head while Arnav sighed, placing a hand on his leader’s shoulder. “I pity thee. Do not worry. We will carry on in your absence.”

“Quiet you. It’s just for five days,” Daniel said, not amused that Arnav was being overdramatic.

Sudoku flipped her hair before tying into a ponytail. “Well, we should hurry to the RML then. It’s been a while since we’ve gotten any interesting missions. Too bad, you’re not joining us, Daniel.”

“Oh yes. Rub it in, why don’t you?”

The RML was a rather large facility with just a few people working in it, and the coordinator of this management is Dr. _Cora_ Bell. Already, they could hear her voice outside the management as she was directing a few workers about carrying it safely.

“Careful now! These are the last of reserves we can get, and it’s very valuable. If any of you drop it, I’m sending you all to the pit of Darkspawns to get more.” She said, whipping out a dish of cold empty threat…hopefully it was an empty threat.

“Dr. Bell!” Daniel called, grinning, as he approached her. “Wow, you’re looking more beautiful than the last time I saw you.”

“Daniel!” She greeted him with a hug immediately. “How is it that the last time I saw you was last month when we all live in this underground base? And Sudoku! Good to see you, darling~!”

Sudoku went over and hugged her as well, but Arnav kept his distance and just smiled and waved at the doctor. “Hey Dr. Bell.”

 _Homophobe_ , Daniel thought. Ahh well. Some things don’t change so easily.

“We should definitely fix that,” Daniel continued as he leaned back and crossed his arms. “Too bad you’re a guy, Dr. Bell. I would ask you out on a date.”

Dr. Cora Bell was originally ~~XXXXXxxXXXXXxxx~~ as Daniel had found out six years ago, after seeing the record files in his father’s office. No wonder his father couldn’t date Cora when he tried to play matchmaker that time, but seriously, Cora looked exactly like a woman--She _is_ a woman. She's quite a petite with ample breasts just; she's symmetrically the right form, if a bit malnourished. She's healthy of course, always eating fruits, but it would do her good to get a bit more protein. It didn’t bother Daniel much that Belle was once a guy, and he liked the friendship that they have; Bell was more like a dear aunt to him now.

Bell scoffed. “Even if I were, you’re way too young for me.”

Daniel winked. “That’s okay. I like older women.”

“You!” Bell proceeded to whack the boy’s arm. “You’re as charming as usual. Don’t change, Daniel. Now, what is it that you three needed?”

Sudoku spoke, “Actually, Commander Soto sent us to you. He said you have something for us?”

“Ahh, so you must be here for my request.” _She_ said, flipping her hair like there was the wind passing by just now before she pivoted and turned. “Follow me, children.”

They walked right into the base, letting the workers handle the shipping of the last reserves, which brought Daniel to his question.

“Say, Dr. Bell, what are those last reserves?”

“Lyrium. Which is why you three are here, but first let me show you _these_ ,” She said as she walked them over into her lab. The lab had a lot of things that Daniel couldn’t explain all at once. After all, this was where they genetically modified the elfroot so that it would produce more and be more healthy and strong—stuff like that. It had been proven overtime that GMO is quite acceptable so long as they’re grown organically.

Other than GMO’s there were plenty of things that the lab was doing when experimenting with Thedosian resources, especially lyrium.

“I want you three to have these.” She said as she handed them cellphones. Military-graded touchscreen smart phones with only the enhanced functionality.

The three were in awe.

“A cellphone… you made a _cellphone_ …? But… _how_ … what do you do with the signal and battery?” Daniel asked as he held one up, examining it closer.

“There is no signal. Treat it like walkie-talkies that you three are connected with through a secured channel. The password for the channel is in the memo app,” she said as she leaned over to Daniel’s phone, showing him the available apps. “You three can also send pictures, videos, and messages to each other. You can even face cam if you’re not too far away or that there’s nothing interfering with the channel.”

“How far apart?” Sudoku asked, holding her new cellphone close to her.

Bell thought about it, tapping her chin. “Let’s see…10 to 15 miles? You will need to experiment with it.”

Arnav then cut in, “So wait, what about the battery?”

“See, that’s the problem,” She said as she took Arnav’s phone and opened the lid from the back. There was something glowing and they saw that it was lyrium. Lyrium batteries. They somehow encased it in this cylinder clear metal, or plastic? Probably metal. They weren’t sure what they used but it was operating the phones. She continued, “We managed to figure out how to minimize the size of lyrium batteries compared to our electrical transformer here in the base.”

Daniel whistled as he had seen those transformers powered by lyrium. “Yeah. They’re humongous, but making that thing the size of our thumbs? That’s pretty awesome, Dr. Bell— _hey!_ ”

Sudoku had taken away the phone from him. “You’re not coming on this trip, remember? I’m handing it to the third member that I’ll be inviting, so you behave here.”

“You don’t even know what we’re doing yet!” Daniel pointed out, but Sudoku merely stared him down and answered, “We’re almost running out of lyrium… Your dad wants us to secure a trade with lyrium.”

Dr. Bell smiled and she clapped her hands. “How right you are, Sudoku. Always a prodigy.”

Daniel just groaned. “Fine. Abandon me here why don’t ya?”

“Good. Let’s go, Arnav.”

She strode away along with Arnav who waved sheepishly at the former leader. Daniel frowned, “traitor!”

“Sorry, Danny. I’d stay but Sudoku’s scary. Don’t want her to go ‘Grudge’ on me,” He explained, mostly fearing his life, though he said all this only in humor. “Have fun!”

They left through the door with Daniel watching them go helplessly. He wasn’t allowed to go as he was grounded by his father. Amused by his sadness, Dr. Bell added, “…And then there was _one._ ”

Daniel slowly turned to her unamused. “…I’m hurting here, Doc.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Oh, you’ll be fine, Daniel. Why don’t you go and check on our newest residents, see if they are being treated right and I’ll work on another phone just for you. How’s that?”

“No problem!” He said cheerily as he exited the lab, though he was still a bit bummed out that he couldn’t go on this interesting mission, venturing out further into Thedas and securing the lyrium trade secretly.

Perhaps the Thedosians might know about it.

For the next three days, Daniel spent his time in Signum Base and checked over its operations. He was supposed to be suspended, and he was, it didn’t mean he couldn’t do his _chores_. He was convincing people he was doing chores. When Hudson complained, his father only stepped in and affirmed that Daniel was doing work for free because he can’t have a son laying around and doing nothing in his room. So that settled that short argument.

However, most of the time, he was with the newest residents. He felt sorry and pitied them. It sucked at what happened to them. Right now, they were being taught simple and basic labor work. A couple had volunteered to work in the fields, while the others were recruited into kitchens or retail. Easy part-time work.

He remembered that one night when Torquil, a former salve, bought a drink for himself in the tavern. Before he could even take a sip, he was bawling his eyes out. He confessed that he had never bought anything before nor did he ever had the money to do so. It was a touching and heart-wrenching moment for many in the bar. It wasn’t something that any of the Earth people had experience, or could even come to an ounce of understanding what he had gone through. They know full well though that Torquil had suffered greatly and will now be living a good livelihood here in Signum.

After that scene, most of the conservatives stopped prattling about how Daniel just broke the rule of letting Thedosians into Signum. Seeing Torquil’s cry, and also listening to some of the other former slaves confessing how they were happier here, made them reconsider.

It was a shaky event. Daniel could still remember how his heart wrenched at the sight of Torquil just breaking down like that. He remembered the man looked lost and swallowed up, then in one moment, there was life again in his eyes like this was his first time remembering how to live.

Daniel thought that being _grounded_ might not have been such a bad idea. He wondered if Mahanon was also experiencing the same thing with the former slave elves that they had taken in.

It wasn’t even five days yet when his father called him into the office, and there, Sudoku, Arnav, and their third recruit, Adrian, were there, standing attendance. Daniel took a moment to analyze the scene before him then turned to his father and asked, “…They don’t know, do they?”

Sudoku threw a glare at Daniel, who immediately veered away from her.

His Father chuckled. “It’s not that they don’t know, son, but rather the situation has gotten complicated. Lyrium, it seems, can only be traded with the chantry and nobody else. However, Sudoku here has gotten information from one of our Dalish friends where we can find a lyrium smuggler.”

Daniel turned to Sudoku with a knowing look. “Mahanon?”

She didn’t answer, but both Arnav and Adrian affirmed simultaneously in weary sighs. “Mahanon.”

Unsurprisingly, she super elbowed Arnav by the ribs and he keeled over, asking ‘why only him?’ while Adrian took steps back away from the tsundere Asian. Arnav was probably regretting a lot of things right now.

Sudoku took a step forward. “We’re heading tomorrow to meet with Mahanon and travel to Wycome. We won’t be back for a couple of weeks or so.”

The Commander nodded, understanding. “If it will take longer, let me know. Send a letter to one of our trade spot there in Wycome.”

“So… why am I here?” Daniel asked, and moments after, he realized as he sidestepped towards to his father. “…Are you sending me out there?”

“You’re skilled in diplomacy, son. While Sudoku is quite proficient in many things, I know she doesn’t have much patience if she were to cross with idiots.” His father tactfully explained, but in layman terms, she sucked at diplomacy, though she seemed happy about his words. “So, that’s why I’m ending your suspension and you are to join these three first thing tomorrow.”

“We’ll be travelling with Mahanon.” Sudoku informed him once again.

Daniel just stared at her and nodded. “…Yes I know. You said that already.”

Sudoku nodded. It wa definitely obvious how happy she was with Mahanon coming along.

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“…That is a _fine_ ass.”

Daniel looked at her and she didn’t move at all after saying such words. They have travelled so far and the city was just five miles away now. Mahanon had volunteered to scout ahead and he brought Adrian with him. They were conversing a bit near the cliff, pointing at which route was the safest to take. The rest were standing not too far away, watching the two debate---well, obviously, Sudoku was looking at something else.

Now, she faced Daniel. “…I want to tap his ass.” Her tone was a bit obsessive.

Unnerved, Daniel asked, “…Mahanon, right?”

He wanted to make sure, and she nodded eagerly.

“Hey! Right this way! We’ll get there faster here through here.” Mahanon pointed out as he started leading the way, and the others began to follow.

Daniel had no doubt that if Lavellan and Sudoku were alone in the forest, _she_ would rape the elf. To be honest, he was more worried for Mahanon than he was for Sudoku. He knew how she can get when she wants something, and she _definitely_ wants something—or someone in this case. Already, she was walking very close to Mahanon, and the elf didn't mind. Did he enjoy her company? God, he hoped he wouldn't hear strange noises at night.

These were the times where he wished they could just take the jeep.

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	3. Extortion!! Get the Lyrium!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diplomacy is more about making threats. Am I right??

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“Look, look, look.” Arnav gestured the others to come over and they were lured in as he pointed at the cloths on sale on the wooden table out in the open market. Luckily, the vendor was distracted because each and every one was aghast as they realized what the pile of cloths were.

“…Loin cloths…” Adrian managed out, eyes wide.

Sudoku nodded. “Those are loin cloths…”

“Is it for men?” Daniel asked, tilting his head. “Like… Men’s underwear?”

Arnav nodded, gesturing erratically, “Loin cloths, man! Like cavemen--”

“ _Please stop!”_ Mahanon hushed them under his breath. He was greatly embarrassed as he managed to push them all back away from the table before the vendor would notice. Although, a lot of spectators nearby were looking at them suspiciously and strangely.

“What is wrong with you all?” The elf asked, stunned at their actions. “Is that the first time you see loin cloths? What do you wear under then if not those?”

Crap, Daniel thought. That’s right. That would be the norm while boxers and briefs are strange concepts. Luckily, Sudoku began the distraction as she approached the elf, already unlacing her top for him. “Did you want to see…?”

The elf’s face was so red and he was left frozen and speechless. Daniel thought he might be between saying yes because he wanted to or no because it’d be indecent in public. He decided to save the poor Dalish as he went over, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him away.

“So! Where’s the dwarf?”

“Huh? …Oh right,” He said, shaking his head and then shoving Daniel off of him as he looked around to find the person. His ears twitching a bit as if he’s listening for the dwarf’s voice like superman could to track his enemies. Wait… can he really do that?

“…I think I met them… this way…” Mahanon said as he led the way.

Daniel raised an eyebrow at that statement. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean I only met them once by pure coincidence,” He explained to him. “Months ago, I was being chased by some templars because they thought I was the ‘mage at large’. I got away but only to meet the ‘mage at large’.”

“…So, the ‘mage at large’ was the dwarf?”

Mahanon whirled at him. “What?? _No!_ There’s no such thing as _a dwarven mage_. Let me finish my story… So, I met this mage and he’s _human_. I blamed him for my misfortune and he took me away somewhere to hide until night fall so I could sneak out of here. That’s when I met the dwarf and their crates of lyrium.”

“…Dude, that’s _dope_.” Arnav commented and the elf looked at him strangely. “Like… you stumbled into criminal activity of lyrium smuggle and they just let you go?”

“…You folks say strange things, but anyhow, they let me go because I’m Dalish.”

Daniel raised a brow. “…And that means?”

The elf smiled slyly. “…It means _I don’t give a fuck_ as you sometimes say.”

Adrian then bumped Daniel’s arm and at first the leader ignored it, only for him to elbow harder. Daniel took a step back, letting Mahanon lead the way so he could talk to Adrian. “Okay, don’t break my ribs. What?” He asked under his breath.

“Someone’s following us.” Adrian whispered and before Daniel could react, he bumped again. “Please don’t look around.”

“Right. Sorry.” That would give the enemy a clue, even he saw Sudoku just keeping forward but they were all being extremely cautious.

Well, sometimes, he wanted to do things drastic.

“Over here??” Daniel said suddenly as he grabbed Mahanon pulling him away. At first, the hunter protested but then Sudoku joined in also dragging him. He understood that something was up as he followed along as Arnav and Adrian kept up. They went around the alleyway and then another to hide in and waited.

Sure enough. They could hear footsteps and it stopped.

“What?” The stunned stalker spouted as he walked a little closer and slower.

Close enough. Daniel thought as he whirled around the corner, grabbing the fool and pulling him into the hidden alleyway, slamming him against the wall. “What’s your problem, pal?!”

The stalker seemed stun at either the assault or the question, and it took Adrian and Arnav to take out their daggers, holding the blades near the fool’s neck.

“We could just ‘off’ him right here.” Sudoku noted. “No one can hear him or find him here.”

The ‘off’ didn’t sound good and Mahanon quickly intervened. “Wait! You can’t just murder a person in cold blood here and--??? … _Trevelyan?_ ”

Everyone else paused for a moment. Mahanon knew this creep? The person still had his hands up and didn’t move a single inch before he asked, “…Are these _your_ friends, Mahanon?”

“Yes. Sorry! Let him go! He’s the one we need to talk to,” Mahanon pointed out.

Oh, so this must be the ‘mage at large’, Daniel thought as he let him go and the others also lowered their daggers. They could have taken out their pistols but it’d be too suspicious.

This Trevelyan fixed him immediately and he looked defensive and scared. “To think, we let you go, and you… you bring these people… dangerous ones. I thought we had an agreement that you tell no one--”

“We’d like to buy lyrium from you.” Daniel cut in, stopping any sort of blame or any other misconception.

The mage was taken back. “Wh… what?”

“We would like to buy lyrium from you. You know? The blue liquid? We want that blue.” Daniel said, making sure he was crystal clear on that part. “Loads of it. Mind bringing us to the dwarf that sells it, if you don’t?”

It took several moments for Trevelyan to process that and he leaned back, crossing his arms. “…What sort of people are you? You don’t look like templars… mercenaries maybe but… I don’t know any mercenaries who are awed at _loin cloths_ at the market.”

Well, that did it.

Arnav laughed aloud at that. “Loin cloths!! Hahahaha! I mean who sells loin cloths out in the open?! HAHAHAHAH!”

He actually fell to the ground and started rolling around in laughter. This behavior baffled both the elf and the mage as they watched the strange human overreacting. The other three were a little bit embarrassed if not for the fact they weren’t used to this from Arnav. This was typical.

While Sudoku walked over to him to stomp on his ribs, Daniel focused on the topic, continuing, “We have our own taste of underwear that is more highly evolved than loin cloths, but we’re not here to talk about that. We’re talking about the blue pill here.”

Trevelyan raised a brow. “…Blue pill?”

“Jesus Christ. _Lyrium_ , buddy! Get with the code names here. This shit is illegal, right?”

Trevelyan shook his head, deciphering through this nonsense. He wasn’t even going to ask who Jesus Christ was. “Why do you need it? What are you going to do it?”

“Well… see that’s our business and what we do with it is none of any one’s concerns, but it’s mostly for academic purposes. It won’t harm anyone or anything,” Daniel explained and further added, “Research and such. So… you going to take us to your buddy dwarf or shall I bring you a templar?”

Trevelyan’s eyes widened and there was anger and fear in his eyes… until Mahanon whacked him hard with his own sash—it’s like getting hit by a wet towel—and shoved him off, dissipating the tension.

“Ow, what the fuck?”

“Creators! Can you _not_ threaten people?” Mahanon then took over the diplomacy situation from there and talked with Trevelyan alone for a few more minutes.

Sudoku then approached Daniel and mocked, “ _You’re skilled in diplomacy, son_ … Skilled my ass.”

The leader could only look away guiltily. “…I got carried away.”

In the end, Mahanon got Trevelyan to set up a meeting the lyrium smuggler named Cadash. The time would be at night and the meeting place would be where Mahanon had met the dwarf. So, they bid their time in a tavern for a while, selling a few things to get some coins. They had to be loaded in coins just in case it’s pricey.

When the time came, they met the dwarf in some warehouse with loads of crates. The place was dreary and dimly lit with just a few candles. Mahanon led the way until sure enough there was Trevelyan and standing next to him was a dwarf. Perhaps that was Cadash.

Daniel and the others approached them stopping just a couple of meters away. This dwarf sized them up, his eyes peering into them. After a long silence, he then spoke, “…You folks look like you don’t give a shit…so why do you need loads of lyrium for?”

“We need ten crates stack of it, if you can manage that.” Daniel said and the dwarf’s brows raised.

Cadash seemed a little more hardcore than Trevelyan then as he put his foot down and said, “…If you’re going to try to destroy another Chantry like that crazy mage did, or even topple a city, I’m not selling anything to you shifty folk! Now, you better tell me without any vague shit, why you need that much lyrium!”

_FLASH! Snap, click!_

The sound and the flash of light made everyone pause as they turned to the source, which was Sudoku. Unknown to the Thedosians, she had just taken a photo of them and she turned it around to show them the screen. Trevelyan and Cadash were in it—and it was HD quality. They were in awe for a moment until Sudoku said the next following words:

“I have captured your souls and placed them into this device… If you die, your souls won’t go anywhere but inside this enchantment forever to be damned.”

“…Hey…” Daniel tried to get Sudoku to stop but she was on the roll. He expected Mahanon to stop her but maybe he was too scared.

“You’re… you’re bluffing…” Cadash remained stern but many could see the fear in his eyes. With Sudoku serious and nonchalant about the situation, they were under her spell through her lies.

She turned away, holding the phone and waving it to tease. “Want to see? I can kill you both here right now if I want to, since I have your souls.”

Another tense silence passed, though Arnav, Adrian, and even Daniel were trying to keep straight faces. Daniel took a deep breath before he stepped in and said, “Look… I promise you we’re not going to use the lyrium for anything wrong, okay? We even have the coins for it, so we’re not here to threaten you for the goods. It’s just that, sometimes, Sudoku here gets a little impatient… We are only using it for academic and research. I swear to God---I mean, the Maker.”

They still remained silent unsure of it and Daniel turned to Sudoku, “Sudoku release their souls, please.” He played along of course.

Sudoku looked at him before she rolled her eyes and deleted the photo. “There… Souls released. Curse erased.”

“See?? We’re all good, now right?” Daniel asked, approaching Cadash and he took out a bag of coins, which caught their attention. “Here. We even have half the payment right now in advance…”

After a long while, Cadash sighed and he asked, “We’ll have it here by next week.”

“Excellent!”

“But the pick-up isn’t here exactly. With that much load, we won’t be able to smuggle it into the city,” The dwarf said and he gestured Daniel to follow him, leading him to a table across the room where there’s a large map. “We’ll meet here. You’ll see there’s an abandoned fort there that we often use.”

Daniel then took out his cellphone and took a picture. Cadash moved back, thinking he was in it but noticed it was only for the map. Was the map doomed as well?

“Thank you. Exactly how many days from now?”

“...S-six to seven.” He managed out, still blinking in surprise.

“Thanks. It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.” Daniel said as he handed the bag of coins to the dwarf before leaving with his comrades now. They waited a while since Mahanon went back to probably apologize for their behavior and then coming back with them.

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“Smile!”

_Click!_

Sudoku pulled back and showed it to Mahanon. Crystal clear selfies of them all.

“So it takes… portraits of people? Paintings?” Mahanon asked, blinking. “It doesn’t take souls?”

“Hahahah!” Arnav laughed. “Oh man… I was trying so hard to keep it together. They actually believed it?”

“We’ve never seen anything like this before,” Mahanon pointed out. Of course. Technology was strange for them. “…I mean, you all have weapons that spit out metal, you have devices that can take portraits and you claim could even send messages, and you threaten the lives of many like it’s a joke. Really, what are you people?”

“Not a danger to anyone,” Daniel adamantly affirmed that. “You know I would never take Trevelyan to a Templar. That was me bluffing. Same with Sudoku bluffing about capturing their souls. We can’t do magic, Mahanon. …Unless their slavers, rapists, terrorists, serial killers, or pedophiles, we don’t just kill anyone in cold blood murder… Just those injustices and beyond redemption.”

Mahanon raised a brow. “Who are you to decide whether a person is beyond redemption?”

“…When there’s no other choice, like that Tevinter. I gave him a choice to walk away, and when he didn’t and decided to continue to fight, I had to kill him.” He explained to his dear friend. “…He’s not going to get away with that…. As for any future killings, that depends in the situation. I can’t say for a certain, but we do have a moral code, Mahanon.”

Adrian supported him, “He’s not wrong. We do have a moral code, despite their irrational tactics of extortion. For their behavior, Daniel, Arnav, and Sudoku are notorious troublemakers in Signum for the past six years since we’ve been here in Thedas.”

The mentioned three turned to Adrian who started explaining further, “They are the cause of many problems in Signum. They sometimes are bullies. They even started an earthquake once that wrecked many houses… In the end, the Head of the town though it’d be safe if the three of them were sent out on outside missions so they can stay far away from home.”

Mahanon didn’t understand most of that, or how that came to be, but he under stood. The trio were a menace.

Daniel leaned in to Adrian. “…Dude….” His tone was of betrayal.

“…Sorry…” Adrian emptily apologized.

That did it. Mahanon laughed and the others joined in along with him. The elf knew now for sure they were strange, and they were dangerous people too… but they weren’t bad. And surely, he could trust these folks.

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	4. When They Least Expect A Pride

_Past_

They were only teenagers at the time, if seventeens and eighteens still counted. After going through training and quick classes on this new world called Thedas, they were almost ready. Daniel felt ready enough as it is. In all their lives, they had been stuck inside a facility safe from Earth’s harshest environment.

His people were now living in this old dwarven thaig, but they still haven’t been outside, _outside_. Out where they can see the sun and breathe the fresh air.

For now, they had been called in by the Director Nguyen—Sudoku’s dad. He had said they had to wait in this room until he would come and get them. They were waiting out deep in the underground of the thaig—the restricted area where there were likely to be darkspawn. None of them were phased of it though as guns win against arrows.

“Wonder what kind of mission he has for us,” Kyle asked as he was trying to climb the dwarven wall. Adrian was playing cards with Arnav, and three others. Sudoku was sharpening her blade while Gina was playing her Gameboy. Others were waiting around, doing whatever they wanted to pass the time.

Daniel remembered that day. There were twenty-five of them, ranging from ages 15-18 years old. Each and every one of them were ready for this. They were born to do this.

“No clue. His face is unreadable as usual,” Daniel commented and he turned to Sudoku. “Sudoku?”

Sudoku didn’t stop polishing her blade, but she answered, “It is only one more mission. I do not know what it is, but this mission will decide which of us can be selected to scout Thedas… those that do not will go through the program all over again.”

A collective of groans were shared, but everyone hoped they all will pass. Just like Sudoku said, this mission will decide everything.

“Humph. It’s been two hours since he called us in here. How long is he supposed to keep us waiting?” Gina asked, crossing his arms.

Adrian looked over. “…Maybe you shouldn’t have worn boots with stiletto heels.”

Gina was quite the diva as she flipped her hair at Adrian. “I’ll wear what I want!”

Kyle, who was still climbing, stumbled back down after losing his grip and landed on his butt. “Ow!” he cried out and then a cluttering noise. Daniel looked over and saw it was one of the walkie talkies.

He walked over to Kyle and picked up the talkie. “Dude, the Director said not to bring the talkies.”

“Oops! I must have forgotten it--… hey the red light is beeping.” He pointed out and Daniel looked down to see he was right.

These walkie-talkies were custom built. They can pick up all their signals, only distorted by the depth or weather, but at least they can get the signal. The red light meant there was an emergency happening at the Signum base.

Daniel decided to turn on the talkie and called on the main channel. “Hello, this is Daniel in sub-level five Thaig, calling what’s the state of the emergency? What’s happening there?”

“ _Daniel! Oh, thank god!_ ” The urgency of Dr. Bell’s voice got everyone’s attention as they all got up, listening. “ _Where are you? Where are you and everyone? Please answer!_ ”

Daniel worried responded, “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

“ _It’s Jun! Jun lied! He--!_ ” There was some rustling and soon it was his father, Commander Soto, on the talkie. “ _Son!! Can you hear me?_ ”

“Yes, dad, I hear you. What’s going on?” Daniel repeated the question as everyone now surrounded him, listening close.

“ _Where are you? What room in the thaig?_ ”

“Uhh, the one with the large storage next to the cliff. Sub-level 5. Dad, what’s going on? Please answer me!”

“ _It’s a trap! Son! I need you all to get out of there. NOW!_ ”

“Dad!” Daniel tried to call for his father again, but there was only noise now on the other side. The signal was getting distorted by something.

“Dad? DAD!” He tried again, but to no avail. Already, two others ran to the double doors and tried to pry them open. Nothing. This was their only way out.

“The door! It won’t budge!”

“Oh my god, are we trapped here?”

“What’s happening?? Where’s Director Nguyen?”

“Calm down!” Daniel cut in, trying to stop from panicking. “No one panic! Think… Umm…! Dylan, Shantell, keep trying to open that door. Kyle, can you climb that wall? If you get high enough, I think there’s a hole. Sudoku, Arnav--”

From holes at the high ceiling, some objects were dropped down. There were five canisters, blowing out light purplish gas. And more were dropping down, filling up the room and suffocating all of them. In moments, everyone was on the floor, trying to breathe.

Daniel gripped on the table, covering his mouth with the scarf. He and Sudoku went to the door, trying to use their shoulders to slam the door open. No avail. Soon, Sudoku passed out and Daniel find his legs gave way when he tried to catch her. He looked around, his vision hazy with black spots. He saw Kyle foaming at the mouth…poison?

Were they dying?

In seconds, darkness took him as they all inhaled the gas into their systems.

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_Present_

“So, what did he mean by that?”

“What?” Daniel turned to the hunter elf, blinking. He must have dose off because he couldn’t remember what they were talking about right now… Or wait, did he just start talking? Pretty sure the elf just started talking.

Mahanon raised a brow. “…Did you just ignore me for the past few minutes?”

“…You know what, I think I did…” He shockingly admitted, a little surprised of himself.

A lot of things were going on in his head right now. It’s been a week now since he made that lyrium deal with Cadash. And when they got back, news of Sudoku’s father was spilled. Hidden traders said they had spotted a strange cart with no horse in _Ansburg_. Not too far from Signum. At that same night, Sudoku was gone. She has been gone since then and no word from her yet.

It had them worried, and the worst part was that his father ordered him not to follow.

Mahanon sighed and Daniel sheepishly grinned, “Sorry. What was your question?”

The elf shook his head. “Forget about it... So will Sudoku be okay? I mean you haven’t really explained to me what’s happening except that she was gone… Do you think she was captured or…?”

_Her_ getting kidnapped? Daniel just couldn’t imagine the idiot that would do that. I mean, to be honest, even he didn’t think his own father, the Commander, could handle her.

Daniel barked out a laugh. “I pity the person that would try to capture her. Really, I do… In fact! If _you_ and Sudoku got together, I’ll be more worried about _you_ than more about her.”

A red streak was painted across Mahanon’s cheeks. “W-what do you mean??” He stuttered.

“Oh please. Let me spell it out for you. Sudoku _likes_ you. She finds you very attractive,” Daniel said those wards and he watched the hunter’s face to see---ah yep, he’s happy. So, he likes her too. “Hahaha, Maker, you are so obvious.”

Mahanon blushed even more. “So, what if I do like her? …In fact, I will see if she would want to go hunting with me one day… soon, I hope.”

Daniel sniggered. “Like I said, buddy, I’m more worried for you.”

Then Arnav joined in the fun as he brought his horse closer to them. “Yep! Instead of her riding you, you’ll be riding _her_!”

Both the guys started laughing uproariously at that, taking pity on Mahanon who just flushed even more. The Dalish sort of understood what they meant, and he should have known about it sooner, but as he recalled, it had been Sudoku making all the obvious signs and passes. She had been very persistent at it, and her unlacing her top for him to see just a bit of her bosoms… that was definitely a sign that she was interested. Not to mention, she always stood next to him. He himself hadn’t made any passes or made any indication that he was interested… perhaps he should. If he sees her again, he’ll be braver.

For a moment, Mahanon looked back to see the small caravan with them. There were three wagons: two were empty and one had supplies for their travel back and forth. The Dalish had never seen this Signum. He had never gotten to since Daniel insisted they meet at the river. He wondered why Daniel wouldn’t show him his hometown. He asked Daniel why once, and only explained that they are a very secluded people and don’t like the outside world much. They want to keep to themselves, but not Daniel… it’s just that he had to respect their wishes or something like that.

Which brought him back to his question.

“So where are you all from?” Mahanon asked.

Daniel turned around. “Hmmm??”

“I mean, you said you’ve only been here for six years? Here in _Thedas?_ ” Mahanon asked. “I mean, where could you be from outside Thedas?”

Daniel’s eyes widened. He’s not supposed to know that. “Who told you that?”

“Uhh… I think it was Adrian.” Mahanon said and Adrian flinched when the other two turned to glare at him. The Dalish only continued, “He was saying how you three, including Sudoku had been notorious troublemakers? Remember? Last week? …You three have been notorious since you started living in      Thedas for six years… Where were you all from _before_ Thedas?”

Daniel nodded slowly and he gestured Mahanon to gallop ahead with him. While they got farther ahead from the group, Arnav punched Adrian on the arm, who took it like a man.

The Leader look back a moment, a little worried that the other people that they were with had heard their conversation, but hopefully not. He didn’t want them ratting him out to his father or Director Hudson. He then turned to Mahanon, lowering his voice but audible enough for the elf to hear.

“I wish I could tell you, Mahanon, but I can’t. It’s not just my secret.” He told him. “But yeah, we’re not from around here… which is mostly why we ask you now to help us and stuff.”

Mahanon rolled his eyes. “The Keeper only agreed for me to help you because you helped us a great deal.”

“Yeah, but you would come anyway, even if the keeper says no.”

“…I… I suppose I would.” He said, getting caught in the flaws of his personality. Predictable enough for Daniel.

He smiled. “See?”

The elf sighed and gave the human a side-eye glance. “So, you will not tell me—at all—where you came from?”

The grin widened. “Nope!”

Mahanon wore an unimpressed look shot towards the grinning shem, but then the pleasant time was interrupted by screams and a flare shot out to the sky.

Arnav galloped right to them. “That looks like it was coming from our destination.”

“You guy stay here with the caravan. I’ll go take a look!” Daniel said and before Arnav could protest, he galloped away to the direction of the flare.

It took a few moments for Daniel to realize that Lavellan was following him close by.

“I said stay back!”

“I don’t take orders from a _shem!_ ”

_“_ Did you just call me a shem-- _Fine!”_

When the two arrived there, they stopped their horses, tying them off in a safe distance before going over to inspect what was happening. There were a group of mercenaries retreating from the fort. They were taking cover behind the large rocks, trees, and shrubs. The mages in the fort were throwing fire at them.

Daniel got his rifle loaded, but he was unsure. “This is the place right…? Which one was supposed to deliver the lyrium?”

“Maybe we should ask them. Something tells me that those mercenaries are our lyrium delivery.” Mahanon pointed out as they saw the mercenaries retreated, getting into deep cover away from the fort. The fort had stopped firing thinking that they had won.

That gave the two a moment to move and meet up with the mercenaries.

It didn’t take long to intercept those mercenaries as they were hiding out in a low ditch, patching themselves up. Daniel was a little disappointed that there wasn’t any healer among them but he was still amazed how cool the health potion was. They would just drink the red liquid and this red aura would fill them before disappearing along with the wounds and such. He remembered Dr. Bell talking about how the wounds would easily close, and even giving extra blood into the system, nullifying the need for blood transfusions. The only thing that the health potion can’t do was cure the flu or cancer.

“Daniel!” Mahanon called out as he grabbed him and they both fell to the ground as the arrow missed him by an inch, hitting the tree.

_“Who are you?”_ The big horned woman demanded as she drew another arrow while the capable others lifted their weapons. Daniel should have noticed her first instead of the health potion. Holy crap. Qunari. In fact, most of them here were Qunari—or wait, Tal-Vashoth?  Or Vashoth?

“H-hey, easy!” Daniel called out as he held his hands up, getting back on his feet. Mahanon copied, holding his hands up as he hid behind the human. He was pretty sure Daniel would make a good shield not that he need to know about that.

“I asked, who are you?!” The qunari woman demanded again.

“Name’s Daniel. We’re here for the lyrium. Now, ease up. Alright”

They seem to pause at that and the woman lowered her bow. “…Where is the rest of your people? It can’t just be you and the elf to carry all those crates.”

“I told my people to stay behind while we investigated the fire… and it seemed like the crates that we were promised aren’t here.” Daniel said, crossing his arms, and the mercenaries looked away, feeling ashamed.

The qunari looked away. “…We lost the shipment…to some crazy blood mages in the fort.”

“Oh, I thought you guys were expert—oof!”

Mahanon elbowed him hard and whispered, “Hey. Be a little more sympathetic. I think they just lost a couple of people, or do you not have any sympathy for their losses? Their friends that were killed?”

Daniel halted and he was reminded by that old nightmare again. That time when Sudoku’s father had betrayed them. Whatever he did, some of them didn’t make it. The 25 number of promising agents were reduced to measly _six_. They were the lucky six. It was… a murderous act that Sudoku would never forgive and had vowed to cut down her own father.

At that reminder, Daniel felt some sympathy as he looked at the wounded mercenary group.

“…How many mages are in there?” Daniel asked as he took out his pistol. His father had said the rifle was too noticeable, and if Danny wanted to continue making negotiations with Thedosians, then he had to start carrying a sword to fit the time but he would still carry a pistol, just in case. He loaded his pistol and drew his blade.

The Qunari woman frowned. “Four, but they are powerful and insane. Most of them abominations.”

“Abominations?”

“They have demons on their side.” She clarified.

Daniel nodded slowly. “Mm-hmm, this should work out. Don’t worry, we’ll take back the fort.”

The elf raised a brow at him. “We will?”

“Mahanon? I’m gonna need your aim.”

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“Well, shit. I thought this was going to be simple.” Arnav said as he, Adrian, Daniel, and Mahanon hid behind the shrubberies. The day got a little darker with the clouds as the sun was starting to set. They needed to strike soon before dark, or else it’d be harder to see.

Daniel turned to the elf. “Okay, so, just aim at anything that’s going to get us at the roof.”

Mahanon nodded. “Got it. What will you do?”

“Arnav’s gonna lift me and Adrian up at the ledge, and we’ll climb our way up. We get inside to open the gate, and you and Arnav will get in. Simple?”

“H…How are you going to climb that wall?”

Daniel smiled. “You’ll see.”

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_Why did he accompany them again?_ Mahanon thought. He wished Sudoku was here. It felt like victory was more assured if she was around, mostly because she was a terrifying, powerful, beautiful, sexy---

Nope. Focus.

Mahanon pulled the arrow and the bow, ready to let it go as he watch the three humans just running straight for the walls. Daniel was leading the way, then for a moment, the ground flickered where he stopped before disappearing. It happened about three times as they reached the wall. The elf paused, seeing that. Strange… Was that a ward? Was the area around the fort warded? If so, why wasn’t Daniel and the others affected? Something was up.

The elf watched closely as Arnav positioned himself against the wall, knees bent and hands cupped. Daniel then ran at him, leaped on his hands and Arnav tossed him high while the leader flew. His outreaching hand managed to grasp the ledge before getting a good grip of it with his other hand and pulled himself up. Mahanon was stunned. Really, what are these shem?

Adrian pulled off the same move and Danny caught his hand, easily hoisting him up. Mahanon watched carefully as Arnav ran back, using the same path that Daniel took, to Mahanon. He mostly tiptoed the whole way as if avoiding any more wards. They can see the wards? If they saw the wards, then why did they just run through it the first time? Did Daniel do something?

Mahanon lowered his arrow since nothing had happened and Arnav got back safely. Creators, what are these shem? He asked again mentally.

“Hey.”

“Holy shit--!” Arnav quickly covered his mouth to prevent from screaming.

Mahanon turned back to see it was the qunari woman, along with able qunari. Arnav gasped as he stumbled back, first time seeing big horned creatures.

“D-Demons…!”

“We are Vashoth. Not fucking demons.” One of the qunari protested.

Arnav just continued to gawk at them, probably never once seeing a qunari before, let alone a bunch of them.

“What’s happening?” The woman qunari asked as she crouched low, approaching at the elf’s side.

Mahanon answered, “Daniel and another friend, Adrian, had gone over the wall. They’ll infiltrate inside and Arnav and I are to make our way into the front entrance once they got it down.”

“Two? Only two of them in there? Against four blood mages—What can they do?” She asked, finding all of this absurd, then they heard an explosion that startled all of them. That explosion came from within the fort.

“ _Gaatlok?_ ” One of the qunari questioned. A minute after, the gates fell right down, opening before them and there were demons coming out. Not good. Facing against blood mages with access to a large supply of lyrium and unleashing demons from the fade didn’t seem fun.

Mahanon let the arrow fly and he took down a rage demon right at its skull. It went down, screeching. It was dead but it caught the other demons’ attention. Arnav drew out his blade and he and Mahanon rushed into the field. To their relief, the mercenary company also joined in the fight.

“We’re getting inside!” Mahanon told the Qunari woman. “Can you hold these demons off?”

“We can!” She said with confidence, and it was enough to assure them that they’ll be able to handle a couple of demons. With that, Mahanon and Arnav moved right passed them, getting inside the fort.

They see Daniel pinned down with an unconscious Adrian, taking cover behind stone rubble.

“What took you so long?!” He yelled out as he was hiding from the spells being thrown at them.

Due to his yelling, the other mages noticed them and immediately, Mahanon and Arnav took cover when they aimed their threatening spells at them.

“More of these rats! You’re all going to regret coming here!” The ring leader said, and Daniel argued form behind the rock, “Hey! That’s _our_ lyrium!”

“Then you should have left it behind!!”

“Fuck no!”

Mahanon wanted to yell at Daniel not to waste time arguing and instead find a way to get out of this mess. The mercenaries were still busy with the demons outside the fort. There had to be a way to get those mages. Right now, those abominations had a barrier around them to deflect any attack. He was pretty sure his arrow will just bounce off of that mana shield.

Then, in some twisted fate, one of the mages stopped firing and started to prepare this condensed orb of electricity, placing more pressure to increase the force. They expect him to throw it at Daniel. It would just go right up and then down at the target. However, instead, the mage faced one of his friends and fired it right in front, killing him from the full blast.

The ring leader was shocked. “...Ch…CHORAS! …Marius, why…?”

This Marius now turned to the ring leader, gathering up energy but before he could kill the leader, the ring leader blasted him first then followed it with a fire storm. Marius screamed in agony as he burned into a crisp.

Mahanon just watched in disbelief. What in the maker just happened? Did one of them go crazy? Possessed by demons?

The ring leader was stunned. “What… what did you do? …What did _HE_ do!??!” He demanded and he was talking directly to Daniel, who was sticking his head out from his hiding spot.

“What? He didn’t do nothing. My friend here is sleeping!”

Mahanon frowned. Why was Adrian sleeping---No wait, the human was getting up now, gasping aloud as if he had woken up from a nightmare. The Dalish shook his head as he aimed for one of the mages. He noticed the barrier was coming undone. He only saw a flicker before he fired and the arrow hit the other mage right through the skull. Three down. One to go.

“Oh! _Headshot!_ …Oh shit!” Arnav shouted as he grabbed Mahanon and they ran immediately when the ringleader conjured up a storm. They immediately got behind the fort’s stone pillars, the lightning missing them by centimeters as it hit the pillars instead. “Yo! Watch it, Wicked Witch of East!”

Daniel heard that insult and shouted back, “I think it was the West, Arnav!”

“Really?” Arnav called out as he dared to poke his head out—in the middle of a raging blood mage—to debate. “We’re talking about the evil green witch, right?”

“Yeah, it’s _West._ But I think he’s more like Dr. Doom with all the lightning and the hood and stuff.”

“Sure, but he doesn’t have a metal mask!”

Mahanon was just astounded that the two could have a normal conversation in the middle of this fight for their lives and for the lyrium they were supposed to retrieve. More so, he had no clue what they were talking about: wicked witch of the rest and Dr. Doom? Point is how can they not take this seriously? Unlike Mahanon, the mage leader had less patience. Lightning was summoned to interrupt them, and the two humans ducked again, just in time, before the storm lightning did any damage.

“Yo! _Rude!_ ”

“We were talking here!”

“ _ENOUGH!”_ The ringleader mage roared in fury. His face was burning red, seething in rage. Anyone could just imagine steam coming out of his ears and the hot boiling kettle whistling. “NO MORE _GAMES!!_ ”

“Holy _shit!!_ ” Mahanon heard Daniel yell out and the elf cringed a bit, not wanting to see… but he had to. He poked his head out next to Arvan whose jaw dropped when the mage was no longer there. Instead, there was now a giant **_pride_** standing in the middle of the fort.

It roared like massive thunder in the sky, shaking anyone nearby.

_“What the fuck is that!?”_

“RUN, DANNY! ADRIAN! _RUUUUUN!_ ” Arnav yelled out when the beast bent down and charged. Immediately, Daniel had grabbed Adrian and they ran out of there. The beast got to their hiding spot and the place smashed to pieces.

“No, no, no! Don’t run over here!!” Arnav complained as the two as coming right towards them. The Pride demon had recovered quickly and was now heading their way as well.

Mahanon groaned aloud at all this nonsense as he took off, gesturing them to follow. “Come on this way!!”

They ran around the fort only for the Pride to gain on them as they went behind obstacles to slow it down. There was an opening through a hallway and they made their way towards it. Meanwhile the Pride demon had gotten out its electric whip and lashed it upon them before it escaped. Arnav got to the open doorway first, but Mahanon stopped, making sure Adrian got in and that’s when he saw the whip coming down right at Daniel.

“DANNY!!” It was too late.

The whip hit him… but then it ricocheted back.

Mahanon blinked as the lightning whip bounced off of Danny, who seemed unaffected, and the whip dissipated, also confounding the Pride demon.

Daniel got to him and pulled him through the door, getting to safety.

“What—It hit you—”

“No, it didn’t.” Daniel quickly interrupted. “It missed. It totally missed me. We need to keep moving.”

“But I saw—”

The wall behind them crumbled when a giant hand forced its way in to find them.

“MOVE!” Daniel dragged the elf and they both sprinted out of there before the hand could grab them.

Luck was on their side when the mercenary bandits came to help after they had finished killing the stray demons.

“Andraste’s tits!!” one of the qunari men shouted.

“Stand back!!” The qunari woman ordered.

The Pride demon stopped as it turned around to see them. It decided to prey upon them instead as it made its way over them. The others could see from the windows and they needed to do something.

“Christ, I was hoping we wouldn’t have to use these.” Daniel said as he took out his rifle and so did the other two. They run to the opening of where the beast had smashed open. They got out, lining up, even Mahanon with his bow and arrow.

They fired, exploding rifle bullets firing right at the beast, puncturing its skin, ignoring the magical barrier it had. It roared in pain, turning around now. Its eyes full of rage, looking at them. Mahanon then fired his arrow and it hit one of the eyes. It roared again, furious, then it stomped over to them.

“Bullets aren’t working!” Arnav panicked as he fired again then reloaded.

“Spread out and get ready to dash!” Daniel ordered, but he stayed where he was as the others moved.

Mahanon could see the fade bleeding out from the demon’s skin, green and murky. He knew it was the fade because of how his sister described to him of how it once looked like. Green and murky when demons aren’t manipulating her dreams.

Then a shadow passed over him from the last sun light that went down. Mahanon looked up to see someone leaping through the air. He lowered his bow, and soon the others stopped firing when this person all in black right on top of the surprised Pride Demon. Then she raised her blade and brought it right down. The blade went through its skull as if it just stabbed soft butter. The Pride demon was still and this woman took out the blade again and stabbed him from the back only for her to jump down and slice the demon right through the middle. She landed safely and the demon fell forward, falling to its death. Daniel moved out of the way in time before the demon’s dead body could crush him.

It was silent as everyone was either stunned at the epic display or afraid at the woman’s prowess. She was clad all in black clothing and a bit of armor, wearing some sort of white with red mask that mimicked a fox.

“ _Daaaaaaammmmn…!_ ” Arnav broke the silence. “… _Daaamn,_ Sudoku!”

Mahanon blinked. Sudoku?

Sudoku took off her mask, revealing that it was her, and the elf’s heart thudded, seeing her.

Daniel came up to her first. “Thanks… You doing okay?” He asked. “Did you…find anything?”

“No… Dead end.” Her eyes darted away to the ground and her voice sounded…empty.

Adrian went to investigate the corpse of the Pride demon, seeing that it had dropped a few useful things while Daniel went ahead over to the mercenary bandits to see if they were alright. Arnav went to join Adrian.

Mahanon then approached Sudoku. “Hey.”

“Hi.” She responded softly as always.

“…Would you go hunting with me?” Mahanon watched her facial expressions go from curiosity to raised-brows-surprise, and he panicked. “I mean if you’re not busy, because I know that you have duties to your family like mine, but--”

The elf was stunned to silence when Sudoku suddenly leaned in, planting a quick peck on his cheek.

“Yes.” She said.

Mahanon blushed deep red, but… he was happy.

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The dead mages were burned, and a short funeral was held for the fallen comrades before they all parted ways. Daniel also talked to Inera Shokrakor, leader of the Valos-Kas mercenary band. They were frequently hired by the Cadash to smuggle lyrium. With the assurance that Inera would be the one in charge of delivery, Daniel changed the delivery location. Turns out that the area Inera and her band had picked up the lyrium package from was not too far from Signum base, thus they will meet at the thaig hidden in the deep forest near the cliffs of the mountains.

Inera raised a brow. “That thaig? Isn’t that place sprawling with darkspawn?”

“Not anymore.” Daniel coolly replied. “Believe me it’s safe, and no blood mage can get inside. Trust me.”

Thus, the agreement held, though she would still need to give the report to Cadash. With her men dead, a safer location and travel would be better especially when it will cut delivery short to just two days instead of seven.

They were leaving with the caravan that Daniel had told to stay put. Mahanon noticed they looked rather angry at being told to wait until Arnav started telling them about what happened. They all looked at them with disbelief, unable to take their word until Sudoku confirmed it, saying she killed it. _Then,_ they believed it.

They got all the lyrium cargo and they proceed to their journey home.

It took them a week and a day to get there, probably slowed down by the weight and horses needed more rest from it, but they made it home. Mahanon knew they were because the path to the river was close by, but Daniel didn’t let him go yet.

“Wait.” Daniel said. “Come with us first and then I’ll have Sudoku ride back with you to your clan.”

Mahanon raised a brow but he had his horse continue to follow. It wasn’t his horse anyway and he’d have to give it back to them. “What are you worried about? You sound serious.”

Daniel sighed. “Blood mages? You know I’ve been hearing skirmishes with rouge templars too, and then slavers running amok? This world is ridiculous. What is going on exactly?”

“What’s going on is the Mage and Templar war, of course,” Mahanon said as in a manner of fact tone. Obviously, Daniel would know but then the elf saw the look on his face and his eyes widened. “You don’t know?”

“…Now I do. This world is at war? Mages versus templars? Like Wizards versus knights? I mean why?”

Mahanon frowned unable to connect the analogy, but he shook his head, letting that go, and explained, “Because human war. I don’t know. I just heard a mage blew up a chantry along with the grand cleric.”

“Shit. Any reason why?” Daniel casually asked. Too casually. Maybe they are not from here. Thedas. How could they not know about the Chantry? Or the Grand cleric? Even he knew the importance of this religion to these humans.

Well, except these humans didn’t.

“I have no clue. Maybe the mages were treated like prisoners rather than free persons.”

“…I do hear that they do get taken away from their families at a young age and be imprisoned in a tower, but…crap… that is like a prison.”

“You’re really not from around here.” Mahanon affirmed then Sudoku galloped at his side, looking at him. “Does that bother you?”

“What? No. Of course not.” He immediately responded. “I haven’t forgotten what you all did for me and my uncle. You took out those slavers.”

Sudoku huffed. “We should have killed them though.”

“…We will if we see them again. They don’t get a second chance.” Daniel promised her, and it definitely sounded like a vengeful vow. Mahanon found it so odd that a human would care so much for an elf. For his family. Perhaps…maybe because they were not from this world, and thus they treat everyone the same? He wasn’t sure about his assessment of them all yet.

And now, Mahanon thinks that there’s actually more to this than what they were saying.

A thaig entrance. He would recognize any as he had seen one before. There were plenty of ruins hidden across the Free Marches, especially the Deep Roads. This thaig entrance was most stunning as it had doors of only metal yet there were no door knobs to pull open from. There were guards posted outside and they were looking at Mahanon strangely. It was no different as how his clansmen would view unknown humans coming into the territory. Mahanon watched as those guards had their rifles ready and armed, and he knew enough from watching Daniel that these men were ready to shoot.

Then Daniel cut the tension. “Easy guys. It’s just us. We got lyrium.”

The guards holstered their rifles, still looking between Mahanon and Daniel. They waited, and Daniel sighed, nodding to Sudoku.

“Come on, Mahanon.” She said as she trotted ahead. The elf soon got the message that the guards wanted him to leave. He realized that this must be the entrance to Signum. Daniel wasn't kidding that they were very secluded people.

Mahanon was about to get off to give the horse back but Daniel reached out to grab him, stopping him. “Whoa, hold on. You can keep her you know.”

He blinked. “I can…?”

Daniel nodded. “Yeah. Think of it as a thank you and my gratitude for joining a mission on fighting a giant demon that very nearly killed us... until Sudoku came along.”

The elf laughed at that. “You know, it just goes to show. We can’t get anything done without Sudoku.”

“Hey, that’s not true. I get things done—hey!” Daniel protested but Mahanon already rode off to catch up to Sudoku. “I get things done _too!!_ ”

“Let it go, Danny.” Arnav intervened as he got off his horse and the metal door started opening up like a garage door would. “You got things done. Okay?”

Danny watched Mahanon and Sudoku disappear into the woods and his shoulders slumped. “…You know your words sound like lies.” He pointed out as he got off his horse.

Adrian passed them, pulling his horse in and adding, “They are lies.” Arnav laughed at that, not defending his own words, and followed his friend in.

Daniel gawked at them as they all started going in without him, even the caravan who was too tired to join the argument. The guards just ignored their arguments as usual like they always do this. The young leader followed, protesting, “Hey! You know, Bernajoy Vaal says that _a lack of appreciation and respect can be a sad end to many wonderful relationships_! …Hey! Are you guys listening?!”

The giant door shut closed behind them and the guards remained standing in vigilance.


	5. Wet Mabari <-- Just a figure of speech

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How the fuck did this happen?

There was growling coming from behind Daniel as he was trying to regain his composure.  He turned his head, meeting face to face with a bear that was ready to maul him—probably for being in its territory. Daniel didn’t give a flying fuck about its territorial business as he grabbed a sharp fist-size rock and struck it across the face, hitting the nose.

The big black bear whimpered as it stumbled back, surprised.

“ _BEAT IT!_ ” This time Daniel snarled ferociously than the bear could ever muster, and the poor, snout-bleeding beast retreated into the woods.

The tired leader huffed angrily before he lied back on the damp soil, taking deep breaths. His whole body was aching from the unfortunate ordeal that he had to suffer through.

There were reports of bandits attacking their trading groups, and it got worse when two of their own were killed. One would think that something as primitive as Thedas shouldn’t be able to win against the cunning and wiser Signum people; it would be analogous to eggs verses rocks. However, they were proven wrong. A former criminal—like Lynette Fromme—would say…

 _Anybody can kill anybody_.

So, it was supposed to be the easiest job, escorting one of their trading groups to Starkhaven. Then, they were attacked and there was a battle—formidable actually, especially now that they have to use the guns sparingly in this primitive world so they wouldn’t be exposed. Of course, though, they did use guns in the end, and still it was taking a little longer than it should have.

Then out of the blue, a bomb came out of nowhere. It wasn’t like a grenade or Daniel would surely have been dead, but it did knock him back…

And as a result, he fell off a cliff into the rapids of the river and down a waterfall.

 _Now_ , after dragging himself out of the waters and unto safe land—wet and sore, covered in scratches from the river rocks he had probably got hit on the way down—he was utterly and completely _lost_. He had no clue where he was. He was going to have to find his way back to Starkhaven, which meant following the river and somehow climbing up that waterfall. How long would he have to travel anyway? He hoped he didn’t was ashore too far.

A robust **laugh** broke nature’s silence. Daniel immediately sat up, took out his pistol from his ankle and aimed it at the supposed enemy.

His response was the stranger’s three other companions; a dwarf aimed his crossbow at him, an elf drew his great sword, and another human with a glowing blue staff ready to send lightning down upon him. Meanwhile, the guy with the beard and the red streak across his nose was still laughing.

“Maker! Haha Haha! I can’t take him seriously!” He said, nearly doubling over, pretending to wipe a tear from his eyes from all the laughter. He continued, struggling to form sentences over his giggles, “He—hahaha! He just struck the bear with a rock across its nose and yelled at it! And the beast ran away! HAHAHA!”

The dwarf sniggered and he even loosened the trigger on his crossbow—just slightly. The mage also had an amused smile from his friend’s statement, and the white-haired elf didn’t have a funny bone, looking quite menacing. Daniel just stared at them before lowering his gun and putting it back in the holster of his ankle, deeming them no threat. He struggled to get up, his body still heavy from what he had endured. He looked up at the sky, spotting where the sun is placed.

“Did you fall into the river?” The bearded-stranger asked as he and the rest now approached Daniel but in a friendly manner. “Must have been a long trip for you.”

“W-Where’s north?” Daniel asked unfocused as he stumbled a bit over his feet, but he managed to support himself when his hand found a tree. His cold fingers biting against the rough wood texture. A strange vertigo rushed over him and he was starting to see black spots in his vision.

“North is that way, kid.” The dwarf pointed and Daniel calculated—well roughly estimated: 3 hours. He had been in the river for three hours floating far away from Starkhaven. Shit.

“I…I need…to get…back.” Why was he having trouble forming sentences?

“Serrah, I think you’re bleeding.” The blonde-haired mage pointed out and Daniel only gave him a confused look before glancing down to see…

“Oh…” There was blood. He was now very aware of the pain, though it was slightly tingling—probably numbed from the cold temperature of the river.

“I am a healer. Let me heal you,” The mage said as he went straight up to Daniel, and he panicked, grabbing the mage by the shoulder, stopping him.

“No magic!” He quickly said as his vision was quickly blackening. He was passing out, and he was fighting hard to get his words straight through to him. “No magic, please! And no health potions! ...N-none of those!”

“Has he lost his mind?” The bearded man asked, commenting from behind. “He’s going to keel over.”

The elf added mildly, “There are now many afraid of magic, because of a certain mage on the run…”

Daniel didn’t see the mage looking back to glare at the warrior elf as already the young leader fell over and passed out.

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.

When Daniel woke up, the first thing he realized was that these loose garments were not his clothing. Well, someone had apparently changed him, and that was…invasive. The second thing was that the recent memories came flooding back in, and immediately he sat up as he realized this was probably not his tent and these were not his clothes.

“Ah.!!” Daniel winced as shock of pain shot through him, coming from his lower left rib. He lifted up his shirt to find bandages that were now getting bloody. His sudden movement must have caused it to reopen. Shit.

“You moved!” An accusing tone snapped and Daniel turned to see the healer he met before passing out on him. He then went over to him. “Stay still and take off your shirt. I’m going to have to change the bandages once more.”

“Sorry…” Daniel murmured then he pulled away from this man when he came close. “You didn’t use magic, right?”

“I didn’t. I swear. I know there are people that aren’t comfortable with magic, especially with how things are nowadays.” The man spoke solemnly at that as he proceeded to change the wrappings, and Daniel behaved, sitting still, enduring it.

“…I’m Daniel.”

“…Kristoff.”

Daniel snorted. “Like Frozen?”

‘Kristoff’ brows furrowed in confusion. “What?”

“Nothing. Thank you.” Daniel should just remain polite and avoid any sort of earth references. These Thedosians would have no clue about anything of that. They probably don’t even know what a meme is.

“Are you a chevalier of some sort? Or a knight? Former templar?” This Kristoff started asking, breaking the momentary silence as he diligently worked on wrapping the bandages around the young man.

Daniel raised a brow. “Why do you say that?”

“You’re…quite chiseled.” The healer spoke hesitantly, noticing the man’s muscles, though trying not to make it awkward but more…educational. “Are you a knight? Chevalier? Former templar, maybe?”

Daniel knew that he has a really nice, muscle toned body. It is all the workout regime that they do every early morning at around 5:00am until 8:00am in Signum. It was a morning routine that they have done ever since they were kids that were part of the growing up elite program. It took until he was eleven years old to realize that all the fun sports and exercise they did wasn’t to build up athleticism, but to get them ready for the harsh world. The 10-km run, 100 crunches, 20 pull ups, 100 push-ups… the only fun thing in all those is that after when they still have half-an-hour or more of free time, they all get to play baseball. If they finished less than that, then it was boring meditation.

“Are you checking me out?” The young man had to tease and the healer gave him this unamused look.

“You’re way too young for me. How old are you anyway? 20?”

“Close. 23 years old actually.”

“Yes. Way too young.”

“I’m still flattered, though I must disappoint you that I’m only interested in the opposite _equipment_.” Daniel got cheeky as this reminded him of Dr. Bell. Dr. Bell never made any advances, but he/she did mention most of the time of how athletically, which made him want to tease a lot, though both know he was only fooling around.

At this time, ‘Kristoff’ was annoyed, and it only got worse when his bearded friend came through the flap of the tent just in time to hear what Danny said.

“ _And_ …you’re flirting with the young, are you, _Kristoff_?” The bearded man demanded. “I knew it. You do sometimes take advantage of your patients.”

Daniel narrowed his eyes at the first word. Why the prolonged ‘and’? And the stressed sound on the name Kristoff… is that not this mage’s real name? They were really being weird, but then again, these were his saviors.

“I do nothing of that sort!” Kristoff snuffed indignantly before sighing exasperatedly as he finished bandaging the young lad.

“Right. What’s your name, river-lad?” The bearded man asked a little too joyously. “Or should I call you _Bear-Master_?”

“You’re a real joker, aren’t you?” Danny responded back amiably. “Name’s Daniel, or Danny. Either works fine.”

“Well, my name… is Hawke.” He introduced himself, pausing for dramatical effect as if Daniel was supposed to know him. When he didn’t react to it, the bearded looked at him with an expression of confusion and surprise.

Daniel didn’t get it. Was he supposed to know him? “Nice to meet you.”

“Right… Well, Danny, want to join us for dinner?”

Dinner. His eyes widened as he shot up to his feet and moved past the bearded man, heading outside of the tent. He looked up and surely it was night. The dwarf and the elf were looking at him questionably as he took in his surroundings. They were camped in the middle of a forest at night and his clothes were there hanging on the branches drying.

Daniel groaned aloud, gripping his side. He moved too fast again.

“You are just persistent in undoing all my handiwork, aren’t you?” Kristoff complained as he exited the tent. “Don’t try to move so recklessly!”

“It’s nighttime!” Danny pointed out the obvious before adding to explain his own dire situation. “The others must be worried. I have to get back. I don’t even know if my people are safe.”

“What exactly happened to you?” The bearded guy asked.

So, Danny decided to give a summary of him escorting a trading merchant to the city of Starkhaven, only to be attacked by a group of bandits. He fell off a short cliff into the rapid rivers and down a waterfall. Hours later, he washed ashore and attacked the bear that they had witnessed.

“Well, there’s no point of you going back at this time of night.” The dwarf, Varric, pointed out. They soon made introductions with each other after Danny told his story. The dwarf was Varric Tethras, the bearded guy was Garrett Hawke, the elf was Fenris, and the healer guy was ‘Kristoff’, or whatever his real name is. They were having stew, and it was actually pretty good stew, or maybe Danny was just really hungry.

Danny nodded at that, “Then thanks for patching me up and giving me food… If you all could point me to the fastest way back to Starkhaven, I’ll be on my way.”

Hawke raised a brow at him, amused. “You’re still eating though.”

“I’ll be keeping the bowl with me and having seconds as I leave.” Danny said and that made the beardy guy laugh as he got up, going to get his dry clothes. He took his jacket first as the air was sort of chilly tonight.

Varric was chuckling as he gestured. “Haha. No, no, go ahead and take a sit. You can camp with us tonight. We just happened to bring an extra tent.”

True enough, there were three tents set up, and one of them was where he was sleeping when he was knocked out. After considering that it was nighttime and he’d probably get lost and would get better chances getting directions from these folks, he put on his leather coat and sat down to continue eating with his saviors.

“Your clothing is strange.” The elf, Fenris, finally spoke.

“Thanks. Your tattoos are strange… It’s not a Dalish creator that I know of. Which would it be?” Daniel harmlessly asked casually as he ate.

The elf glared at him deadly. “I’m not Dalish… You are familiar with the Dalish.”

“My people trade with them often.” Daniel simply answered and he checked through his coat pockets, only to find his phone. He didn’t take it out however and just continued eating.

“And who is your people?” Kristoff asked, out of curiosity. “Forgive me for prying, but I’ve never heard an accent like yours. Doesn’t sound like Nevarran, or Rivain.”

He only shrugged. “I live in a very small, close knit, secluded community that our accents seem to have changed.”

“It couldn’t be _Signum_ , could it?” Varric inquired and Daniel tried not to look surprise. Chances are the Free Marcher city-states should already know of them, or at least heard of them, considering they’ve been trading with them for the last six years. Who wouldn’t know of them really?

“You know of us?” Danny asked.

Hawke knew of them as well and said, “Your people are kind of infamous. They say you have deadly weapons similar to the Qunari’s gaatlok.”

Danny paused a moment then he reached down, taking out the pistol hidden and holstered around his right ankle. He took it out to show them. “It’s called a gun. This one is specifically a pistol: a hand-sized gun. It shoots out small piece of metal in half-a-second, and depending where it hits it could be fatal.”

“…Didn’t you aim that at us earlier?” Hawke inquired, realizing the kid nearly could have killed them.

“Sorry.” Daniel offered an apology with apathy. “Didn’t expect a guy laughing at me—Oh, and by the way, I nearly drowned and bled to death.”

Hawke laughed uproariously, nearly doubling over. “You hit a bear with a rock on its’ snout and told it to _Beat it!_ ”

The conversation continued on pleasantly and Daniel was the first to leave and retire to his tent to sleep. Only that he didn’t. He took out his phone hidden in his coat pocket, and turned it on: 15 missed calls and 20 messages since the last six hours, all from Arnav, Sudoku, and Adrian. All of them asking where he is and if he is okay, and that they were following the river down south to find him. There was a text an hour ago, saying they had camped for the night but will look for him tomorrow. Please reply soon.

Daniel did, sending them messages that he’ll follow the river too, tomorrow morning, and then he turned the phone off, taking advantage on a good night sleep after the ordeal he went through today.

However, he was a light sleeper and he was able to hear their conversation.

“Signum? That’s the place then no knows where it is right?” Kristoff asked. “You wanted me to go there?”

“If he will take you, of course,” Hawke said, probably expecting Danny to do so6. “It might be safe for you there, _Anders_. And even _Justice_ , so long as he doesn’t take over and make you look like an abomination.”

Anders. So that’s his real name.

“Varric, didn’t you say that his people would kill anyone that would try to follow them home? They might just kill me when I get there!”

Fenris scoffed. “Good riddance.”

Anders must have glared at him as there was a slight pause for a moment until the dwarf spoke, “Well, if anything else, the kid owes you a favor. You did patch him up and he would have likely bled to death there. He didn’t have anything on him that could have helped him stop the bleeding, not even a health potion.”

Anders continued to refute. “And there’s another thing. He told me not to use magic on him. They must not like mages.”

“We’ll ask him tomorrow then when we help him get back to his friends, Anders,” Hawke suggested, stopping the mage from worrying too much.

Fenris responded dryly, “So we are going back to Starkhaven from where he had just rescued our estranged mage.”

“It’s a risk we will have to take, Fenris.”

Danny furrowed his brows at that and he thought about it. Their friend—Kristoff or Anders or whatever—must have been an escaped prisoner from Starkhaven, or a wanted man. He wasn’t sure what the man had done, considering he is a healer, but Hawke said something about Justice as if it was a person rather than a concept, and then something along the lines of possession. Mahanon did explain to them once about demons in the fade, and after witnessing rage demons and a pride demon, possession was… well it sounded really scary, but not far off from the truth, despite how crazy it is.

Is that why they knew of Signum? They want to hide Anders…but why? What did this mage do?

He’ll have to find out tomorrow, but also, he needed to get back to his team.

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	6. Hobbits Don't Exist

Danny was the first one to wake up that morning. He couldn’t help it; his body was set to wake up exactly 5:00 am in the morning, especially when he already had a lot of sleep. At this time, he would have already started his workout regime if not for the fact that he was wounded. He’d do more harm on himself than good, and it would set off this Anders---Kristoff into mother-hen lecture that Dr. Bell would usually give to him if he did something bad. So, as quietly as he could, he left camp to hunt and brought back two dead rabbits and some eggs that he found from a bird’s nest

He skinned the rabbits first and sliced them into even pieces. Then, invasively but necessary, he rummaged through their stuff, finding the spices he needed and a smaller cooking pot. Yes, that would work.

“What do you think you’re doing?” The elf, Fenris, demanded angrily. He already had his blade out, gripping tightly as he glared deadly at the human. Shit. Well, if looks could kill…

“Uh… I’m cooking?” Danny asked as he put more wood into the lightly burning campfire, trying to get the flames up.

“Why?” His eyes narrowed as if he was going to shoot laser beams at him.

“Why can’t I? It’s just me saying thanks… If you’re worried that I’ll poison you, you can stand there and watch me. I’ll even eat it first too.”

Fenris regarded him a little looking longer before he took a sit on one of the logs, and decided to just watch with the ever scrutinizing, suspicious eyes. Daniel ignored him easily as he got to work. He was impressed that Varric had cinnamon here too, and he had enough ingredients for the Chinese five spice seasoning—well, three out of five, he’ll have to work with substitutes close to it. So, Danny had to do some tasting on the spices before figuring out which strange thedosian spice would work best with cinnamon, black pepper, and garlic.

After coating the rabbit loins, he placed them into the heated cooking pot on the campfire, and the smell came up as it sizzled. The noise and wondrous smell was slowly waking up the other three men, sleeping in their tents. Varric was the first to step out and he paused a moment, taking in the scene before him. Dawn was up, and there was the human lad they saved yesterday cooking breakfast that was enough for them all, and Fenris was keeping a close eye on him.

“Yo.” Danny waved. “Morning.”

The dwarf looked at him strangely for the ‘yo’ part but he got the morning. “Are you cooking?”

“Yep.”

“Well, it smells good, but what are you making exactly?”

“Mind if I use this big loaf of bread?” Danny asked, holding up the rye brown bread that he had taken out from their things. He didn’t answer Varric’s question.

The dwarf shrugged. “Go ahead. It’s nice I don’t cook for a change.”

“So, these are your stuff of spices and equipment. You are a chef at heart?”

The dwarf laughed at that. “I’ve never heard that before, but no, cooking is just one of the many skills I have. See, kid, I’m an author at heart. I write the best novels.”

Seeing that Fenris didn’t make any comment or noise to protest against such a claim, the dwarf must be telling the truth—or the overall of it. This Varric was pretty full of himself, but maybe his arrogance is at the level of his skills. Danny just met the short-guy last night and the dwarf is pretty cool, like an awesome uncle or something like that.

“Cool. Any bestsellers?”

Varric had this grin that Daniel couldn’t discern what for. It was like he found something funny of what he said, and he didn’t get what it was until Hawke stepped in. He had come out of his tent after Varric and had heard the boy’s question.

“Can it be? There is actually someone in Thedas who doesn’t know the great author, Varric Tethras? The world must be coming to an end!” Hawke dramatically professed as he made his way over to Daniel, checking what he was cooking up. The dramatic flair dropped as he took in a waft of the delicious, and simply asked, “Mmmm, what are you cooking?”

Daniel smacked the hand that tried to reach in and grab a piece of it. “Seared rabbit. Gonna make sandwiches. But seriously, tell me. Should I know a _Varric Tethras_?”

“Have you not heard… _Hard in Hightown?_ ” Kristoff had now appeared out of his tent. His hair looking absolutely like a bird’s nest. At least, Hawkes’ hair was the worst out of all of them. It looked like a whirlwind hit it and it seemed like his beard grew another 3 inches or something. The mage continued, “What about _The Tale of The Champion?_ ”

Danny’s brow furrowed. “…Actually, I think I’ve heard of those books. A friend of mine reads them often to another friend of mine.” Mahanon. When they travel, he had those books with him and Sudoku asked him to read it for her. It was also helping her learn how to read the trade tongue of Thedas. Some of them were still struggling to learn it, but they can form basic sentences on paper. It helped that English and common sounded the same, but more medieval.

Both Kristoff and Hawke were now making these glances that directing to Varric like he was the answer to everything, and Fenris just stared at Danny, waiting for the human to finally get it.

“Ohhh, you wrote those?” Now Danny was kind of wishing he paid attention and listening to the story. He knew only bits of it, especially now that the Champion of Kirkwall was… “Holy shit, so _you’re_ the Champion of Kirkwall? I thought all that crud was fiction. Did you really hold off a horde of Qunari?”

Hawke grinned at that, seemingly proud that someone knew his accomplishments. “Not alone, but it did seem like it. I fought the Arishok and won.”

Daniel grinned at that. He knew what an Arishok is. “That’s like the leader of the Qunari, right? Damn man, _kudos_ to you!”

Fenris finally spoke after staying so quiet since earlier morning. “You say such strange words. Do all your people from Signum say such things?”

“Say such what?” Daniel asked, blinking.

Varric offered. “Like what you said. _Kudos_. Earlier you said _Yo_ that I can only guess must mean _Hi?_ ”

“Yep. You’ll get used to it. It’s not _rocket science_ to understand what the words mean,” Daniel said as he kept going with the words that they wouldn’t really know. He guffawed when he saw them wear confused faces again. Gods, this was hilarious. He left them hanging as he proceeded now to make those breakfast sandwiches. How lucky that they even had a cheese roll with them.

At first, they were looking at the sandwich strangely. It had the bread that Daniel cut evenly for them, the seared rabbit, now with cheese, lettuce, tomato, and scrambled eggs. They were hesitant, but before Danny could take a bite to prove it wasn’t poisoned, Fenris actually took the bite first. He munched on away in silence with much gusto; it was unnerving but also amusing. That made the others start eating, and they professed their compliments to the chef.

After breakfast, they started packing things up and Hawke announced that they were going to make their way to Starkhaven to get Danny back to his friends. They decided to follow the river up north after Danny pointed out that maybe his friends were coming for him, and are likely going to follow the river. With the route agreed upon, they started hiking up the river. Daniel figured they would agree to just sticking close to the river, because if Kristoff—this Anders is a mage on the run—the local road would probably have guards patrolling, or camped along it, looking for him. Moreover, Anders seemed like a very recognizable guy. He wouldn’t ever forget a face like him, so it’d be almost impossible to hide unless they can dye his hair darker.

“So!” Danny broke peaceful silence of nature as he decided to bring it up. “What’s this about you wanting to come to Signum?”

His sudden question threw them off and it got real tense. Daniel noted how the mage’s lips pursed, Fenris averting, pretending not to listen, Hawke wincing, and Varric had a more mixed look of interest and a flare of caution in the wind.

“You weren’t asleep last night?” Kristoff questioned.

“Well, you all weren’t actually whispering.” Danny pointed out. Not his fault that they were loud on that still silent night. “Are you on the run or something?”

Kristoff had this tight-lip face look from the privy question. “I am a mage.”

Hmm… True enough. Daniel thought long and hard about it, staring at this Kristoff. Signum never had a mage, even the children born didn’t have any magic. Maybe six years old was too young, so it might be too soon to tell, but Dr. Belle from the RML had always expressed about actually getting a mage to conduct experiments. Ethical experiments, such as finding out how magic really works. She believed there had to be some sort of scientific factor to it, like the spreading disease of these Darkspawn. This darkspawn disease, or the blight as they call it, was very much akin to cancer that kept coming back. It was like mowing grass; you could mow it down to nothing, but it would always grow back. It’s near implausible to completely remove it.

“You know, it’s sort of just our luck that we ran into you,” Hawke spoke. “We were actually heading back to Kirkwall, and maybe ask one of your people there. Maybe you could recommend Kristoff here? He is a healer and he healed you—without magic, I must add. Good healer both in magic and non-magic.”

Now, Hawke was trying to sell him off, and Danny couldn’t help but grin at that. “Well… Lucky for you indeed, I’m sort of one of the top agents in Signum, and I can probably talk to the big boss of Signum. He’s like the Viscount of the place.” No need to tell them that the big boss was his father. His words though seemed to lit some hope in Kristoff’s eyes, and Danny quickly added, “Don’t expect too much though. They’re a reclusive society. They don’t take kindly to outsiders—mage or no mage, human or no human.”

“Why is that, kid?” Varric questioned and Danny just shrugged at him, answering, “We don’t trust outsiders.”

“You’re very trusting though,” Hawke pointed out. “You don’t seem to have any problems with us.”

“You haven’t given me any problems.”

Kristoff scoffed. “Haha, and if that changes, then you won’t trust us?”

Daniel grinned. “Yup. Like for starters. Your real name isn’t Kristoff. Correct?”

The mage was surprised for a moment before sighing. Of course, he must have heard that part.

“My real name is Anders.” He answered hesitantly as if Daniel was supposed to know that name, but Daniel didn’t.

Danny just nodded. “Cool. Don’t lie to me again, especially when I’ll be supporting for your case to get in.”

“Noted.” Anders responded aptly.

There were three main rules in Signum that held the highest of importance:

  1. Thedosians are not to know they are from Earth
  2. Thedosians are not to have possessions of guns, gun powder, or any weapons advance from their time
  3. Signum does not get involved in any of their problems. Look after only Earth citizens.



Daniel had been thinking long and hard about those rules. They never mentioned not letting in Thedosian former slaves into Signum and integrating them in society. In fact, his father punished him only because he didn’t consult with him first, and just granted them inside with the help of the civil liberty group.

Nothing of it said that they couldn’t interact with them or integrate them into their own society. Daniel had to wonder why these rules were set in by the previous and former director. The guy was such a bastard and he did something to them that was inexplicably unforgiveable, but the commander—his father—kept those rules, stating that it was something that they got right. Daniel was just uncertain of what exactly they got right with. Acting so reclusive and secretive in a place where they’re trying to make it their new home didn’t seem so productive.

Hawke prompted questions, wanting to learn more about Signum, and Daniel gave him whatever vague details he could about his own people, but he did give him facts that were unavoidable. They were an all-human society and kept mostly to themselves away from the outside world. They send trading caravans out just to keep in contact and be updated on current events of Thedas. There isn’t exactly a national newspaper invented in the world. In exchange, Signum produces an abundant number of herbs, including the rarest ones. They also procure a lot of meat, using freezing runes to keep them chilled and fresh for the buyers that couldn’t afford to go hunting. Excluding the Dalish since they make great potions out of the items they traded for them, they haggle a lot, making sure they got the coins’ worth or barter.

“But why so reclusive? Does your people hate the outside world? Magic and such?”

Daniel carelessly answered, “Most of them had never even seen magic, or even an elf, or a dwarf, or qunari.”

“Does your people not allow any other races?” Hawke questioned, finding something wrong with that. “Quite bigoted.”

“Dude. I haven’t even been outside of Signum until I was 18 years old, so imagine my surprise when I saw people with pointy ears, really short stocky dwarves, and big gray-skinned people with dragon horns.” Daniel said, defending himself and his people. He can’t really give the big reason why they haven’t been outside or why they never let any outsiders in. “Seriously though, we got nothing against them. It’s just rare for us to let outsiders in. The only time was when my scouting team and I rescued some slaves.”

This seemed to catch Fenris’ attention as he demanded, “What did you do to the slaves?”

“Former slaves now. See. We were out trading with the Lavellan Clan—a Dalish clan, but we find out that they were captured by Tevinter slavers.” Daniel started explaining with a story first. “After rescuing them, the Lavellan took in the elven slaves while we took in the human slaves—well, one of them wasn’t human. He was an elf, Cyries. His ears were docked and rounded by his former master…”

“Did you kill them? The Tevinter slavers?” Fenris asked and Daniel noted the rage in his tone. He watched him and he could see him trembling slightly.

Hawke was giving the elf a look of…sorrow? Sympathy? But his expression was hardened as well, wanting to know if these criminals faced their demise.

Daniel reached down to his ankle, taking out his pistol. He aimed it at a random direction, seeing that there was bird there at the branch as the others watched him with curiosity, wondering what he was doing. He lifted the safety latch off the gun with his thumb and curled his finger around the trigger…

**_BANG!_ **

The loud noise startled them all and the bird dropped dead from the branch unto the ground. Heavy silence fell around them as Danny put on the safety latch and hid the gun now behind his back and tucked underneath his shirt. His jacket hid the rest of it.

Daniel broke the silence. “…I _shot_ the Tevinter slaver… and he dropped dead just like that… Satisfied?”

And Fenris replied, almost with relief. “…Much.”

“…What did you call that again? A gun?” Varric questioned with an air of caution. “That thing is really dangerous.”

Daniel nodded. “I know… I only use it when I have to. Slavers is one of the reasons… Others are pedophiles, rapists, and serial killers.”

“Serial killers?” Anders prompted, never heard that term before.

“Psychos. Murdering people and such because they want to and have to.” Danny explained. “…They don’t stop killing.”

Moving on from the slavery topic, Varric prompted the serial killers again, questioning and asking for examples so Danny provided them. He remembered these series called _Criminal Minds_. He tried to be as vague as possible, saying that it was a serial novel with over one hundred episodes—books. Popular too. He explained the best he could about criminal profiling and behavioral analysis. Really interesting stuff and Varric was incredibly interested as he could relate the profiling. Then Danny had to explain how profiling was related to finding serial killers. The others remained silent, listening to the conversation but also prompting to ask more.

They didn’t ask more about Criminal Minds, but more so on the stories, and Daniel was glad to share things like that. He would tell them epic stories of dragon riders of a boy named Hiccup and his dragon Toothless. He would tell them about Tolkien’s The Hobbit: _“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole—_ Yadda-yadda-yadda— _it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.”_  He had to explain first what a hobbit was—a mix of a dwarf and an elf, and to his surprise, Varric stated that dwarves and elves were incompatible with each other, and yet humans can breed with just about anyone, spreading only more humans. Huh.

The whole day was spent just like that, sharing ideas and stories without giving anything too much away. They seemed like good folks, Daniel thought.

Of course, the peace came to an end when they came through an upon clearing with the river and from the top hills, behind the trees and bushes, at least fifteen bandits came out of hiding.

“…Friends of yours?” Hawke asked as he slowly took out his polearm spear. The others as well were preparing for a fight. Fenris already had his great sword out, Varric had his reloading-crossbow—Bianca—ready, and Anders’ eyes and hands were glowing (Danny thought nothing of it, btw).

“Nope.” Daniel piped in as he did the same, drawing out his blade with his right hand and his left hand reached to take out his gun.

They were outnumbered for sure. The number of arrows aimed at them was a concern.

And the leader of the bandits knew this as he stepped out with his sword and shield. “Well, I’m sure you all know a losing battle. Just hand _him_ over.”

Everyone, including Daniel moved just a bit, encircling the mage.

Anders snarled. “Why don’t you just try and take me?”

“Take _you?_ ” The leader questioned. “Not you.  We want _him_. That guy from Signum.”

Daniel paused at that and the others seemed to look at him with inquiring looks and he protested, “Hey man, I didn’t do shit! What did you want with me?”

“There’s a high fetching price capturing any person from Signum alive,” The Leader said. “75,000 gold they say.”

“…That’s more than our expedition years ago, Varric,” Hawke said, whispering to his dwarf friend with a complaining tone. “Daniel gets 75,000 gold for just being from Signum.”

Then Varric shrugged. “I don’t really call that lucky, Hawke. Who’s paying you anyway?” His question directed at the leader.

The bandit looked at the grimly, his patience wearing thin. “What does it matter? What matters is that I’m giving you all a chance to leave him here, and give you another day to live.”

For a moment, Daniel actually feared that they might just trade him over. I mean, they only knew each other for just a day—not even 24 hours yet. He didn’t know much about them, and they’ve already lied for their friend. He turned to Hawke, since it seemed like he’s the leader of this small little group.

And to his relief, Hawke said, “Not a chance. Why would I walk away from the fun of killing all of you?”

His answer didn’t make the Bandit leader happy. He was about to order the archers to fire, lifting his hand...

\--But then Daniel stepped in front, waving his hand, “ _WAIT!_ ”

“ _What now?!_  I’m done talking!!” The leader snarled, and it did look like they just wanted to get this over and done with.

“Just a quick question, man. You want me _alive,_ right? Like, that much money—they’ll only give you if I stay _alive?_ ” Danny asked, wanting some clarification.

The Bandit raised a brow suspiciously at Danny. “…Yes. So what?”

“Oh…Then…” Without any warning, Daniel started firing at the archers. There was a total of five archers/crossbow holders, and one by one they dropped dead. After three dead, an arrow zipped and dug right at his from left limb. He cried out from the sudden pain, but ignoring it, he dropped his sword and grabbed the pistol with his right. His left arm stayed limp as he fired and gunned down the remaining archers.

The bandit leader charged right at Daniel to bash him with his shield, but the earth below them shook and a rock wall shot up, blocking the leader’s path. Danny looked back, thinking it was Anders that did that, but no… it was Hawke. That polearm was his magic staff? Creative.

Battle ensured, and Danny took cover to a nearby tree, stumbling on the way there. Shit. Was the arrow laced with something? He leaned against a tree and dropped to to the ground. He reached out to carefully pull the arrow out from his shoulder. Meanwhile, a rogue bandit got around and was right next to him. Not sure what he was going to do—either knock him out or screw the money and just kill him—but Varric shot the guy at his chest fatally. The rogue bandit stumbled back and dropped dead. The dwarf went over to him, eyes scanning the battle of rage magic and heavy blade hacking.

“You okay, kid? That was some stunt you pulled.”

“Yeah… Figured they wouldn’t…kill me…” Danny slurred a bit in his speech. “…Shit… they drugged me.”

“You are crazy.” The dwarf said, then they started to hear rapid  _gunshots,_ which startled the the dwarf  and he looked over, saying “…Maker’s balls.”

Danny moved a bit to check and see what was going on, and he saw the battle was immediately done as he looked over his shoulder. At least five people entered the field, two of them were Sudoku and Mahanon. They were currently busy, aiming their rifles at Hawke, Fenris, and Anders with Sudoku telling them to toss their weapons away and get down on their knees.

“Hey!!” Daniel called out, catching their attention and diffusing the tension immediately. “I’m okay! They’re good people, by the way, don’t shoot them!”

They looked at the three and they aimed their rifles away. The other three went to make sure every enemy was dead, getting out their daggers to cut their throats while Sudoku and Mahanon rushed over to Danny.

“Could you warn us before you decide to walk backwards on a cliff? Really, Danny?” Mahanon complained as Sudoku knelt down and checked on his wound. She took off her pack and started to work on closing his wound.

Daniel made a face at the elf. “Dude, I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Just like how you got in front of us and started _shooting_ at every archer, and got yourself hit in the process and _on purpose_?” Hawke said, making things worse for Danny as both Sudoku and Mahanon paused and glared right at Danny for doing something stupid.

Danny glared at Hawke. “Yeah. Rat me out why don’t you?”

Sudoku rolled her eyes as she rubbing a cooling blue-gel anesthetic on his wound be and then adding a layer of a grayish ointment that painted over the gel and his skin. The others watched with curiosity, wondering what sort of healing product was applied. Sudoku easily helped Danny on his feet, who swayed a bit.

“AH!!”

They looked over and saw that one of Signum guys dragged in a wounded bandit still alive, but cowering in fear. Danny recognized him as one of the archers. Huh. He probably missed a fatal area then when he got wounded. Sudoku passed him over to Mahanon as she marched over to the bandit. She drew out her samurai blade and set it against the bandit’s neck threateningly.

“Who sent you? SPEAK! If you don’t want me to cut off your balls first!” She threatened as she changed the aim of her blade, the tip of it touching his crotch.

Every male, except for Fenris, made a cringing expression, feeling sorry for the bandit, but not making any attempts to stop the enraged, menacing woman.

Her threat worked wonders though as the man spilled the beans, “I-I don’t know! But the leader said the guy he met with was Tevinter!”

“Oh. Fuck me.” Daniel groaned at that. Chapter One, he thought.

“You should have killed _all_ of them.” Mahanon seethed under his breath.

Fenris turned to him as he recalled their earlier conversation. “You said you _shot_ him.”

“I did. I shot the Tevinter guy that was leading them. The rest of them gave up and surrendered—well one tried to rebel and Sudoku broke his neck—but we weren’t going to execute unarmed men in cold blood!” Daniel protested. “I do have a moral standing!”

Fenris scoffed. “If it was the other way around, they would kill you anyway.”

To which Daniel aptly replied, “And I’d rather not stoop to their level, thank you very much.”

“So, we’re letting this one go, then?” Hawke asked as they all looked at the surviving bandit.

Some relief lit up in the criminal’s eyes until it went away when Sudoku asked, “Can I still cut off his balls so he will not pass down his genes?”

“No! Jesus, Sudoku! …Have him strip. Get all weapons, items and gold and then leave him with just the clothes on his back.” Daniel gave an order and with that, the other Signum agents--whom had remained quiet and patient thus far--moved towards the bandit. They started barking orders at him, shoving him against a tree and waiting for him to strip. One felt him up, checking every area like boots, arm pits, and even crotch for potential weapons or any valuables. Once they were done violating him, they gave him the count of ten to run and get out of sight before they fire. At that threat, the man was instantly fleeing the scene. When ten seconds were up, one of the guys fired the gun anyway, but aiming to the sky.

Enough said, Hawke and his gang were impressed of Signum’s methods despite it slightly questionable. They saw now that it was no wonder no one could find them, nor track them down into their home base—and anyone who would attempt it will truly find out how they were efficient killers, and can only be counted lucky if they were unarmed.

“We’re not going back to Starkhaven anymore. The caravan is safe and secure there for the next month or so. Now we need to return back to base.” Sudoku informed him that the mission was done.

“Right…” Daniel responded hesitantly as he now turned to Anders. “…If you still want to join Signum—and by the way, it’s still uncertain whether or not you’ll be accepted—you have to come with us alone, _Kristoff_.”

Anders blinked and he realized he should keep his name a secret. He saw there was an elf there, and from Daniel’s explanation, this elf is not from Signum—not really, and the Dalish would probably know who he is if he shared his real name.

“I understand. Just give me a moment to say good bye to my friends.”

Daniel nodded, gesturing him to do so. “Ten minutes.”

As Anders moved away to talk with Hawke and the gang one last time, Sudoku grabbed Daniel, pulling him away and demanding, “ _What?_ ”

“You heard. That guy Kristoff is coming with us.”

“I heard, but Danny, you know the rules.”

“I think we broke that rule already. Remember the former slaves?” Daniel reminded her and she fell in to silence. He continued, “Plus! He’s a _mage!_ Dr. Bell is going to be psyche about it, learning what a mage can really do.”

Sudoku paused a bit before crossing her arms, “...It would be amusing to get her to admit that magic exists.”

“Exactly!” Daniel grinned at that. Their reports of magic and demons are always reviewed by Dr. Bell, and she finds magic and demons nonsense. Instead, she would evaluate that it must be some sort of evolved creature from another dimensional realm with different laws of properties. She was always determined to find the scientific and empirical reasons on anything that was considered ‘magic’.

Overall, Dr. Bell didn’t believe in magic and Anders would be the one to change that. Hopefully. The realist vs. the arcanist.

Whose views will come on top in the end?

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	7. Touring Signum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the holiday season! And I have more free time to write! I'm gonna write as much as I can! :)

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Signum (a.k.a. Sigma Outpost)

Population as of Dragon Age 9:39 = 785 (potentially plus 1)

Males: 543 (69.2%) (might change, plus 1)

Females: 242 (30.8%)

Population Growth Rate: 0.9% annually

Unemployment: 0

Homeless: 0

Mages: 0 (might be plus 1)

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“Absolutely not!”

Danny didn’t once think that any of this was going to be easy. His father stayed silent, looking over the reports from the other scouts that had accompanied him, including Sudoku’s while Director Hudson rambled on and on about the significant rules of Thedas of not getting involved with Thedosians. If only he could tell him to try and tell that to Sudoku’s face, especially since she’s romantically _involved_ with an elf. He was sure Director Hudson can’t say anything to her; she was a spitting image of her father, and her father still grasped fear in the hearts of many here in Signum, even though they should be filled with rage for what he had done… not that it mattered too much now. The guy was nowhere to be found.

His father, Adam, was still flipping through the pages, reading some specific sentences and Hudson as talking, “…And therefore--”

Danny had enough. “I invoke the _Signum Concord Act!_ ”

Adam’s eyes averted the papers, looking straight at his son with surprise and Hudson was rendered speechless for once. The commander’s office was filled with silence though they could still here the soft humming generators outside and the people starting out their early morning work. Hudson opened his mouth, though no words were coming out and so he closed it shut, lips pursing.

After a while, his father finally spoke. “You know you’re implying that this gentleman, _Anders_ —of which you want us to refer to him as _Kristoff_ —is a criminal?”

“Technically in this world, all mages would be considered apostates since the Circle of Magi fell, and thus every apostate is considered a criminal… a target for every templar.” Danny explained, learning that from both Mahanon and Anders.

His father raised a brow. “Are you sure there’s nothing else to that?”

“Weeeeeellll, I didn’t pry any more than that. I’m pretty sure there is, but—”

Hudson then interrupted. “You mean you haven’t exactly vetted him properly? You don’t even know the crimes he had committed other than being a _mage?_ ”

“As I recall, not many of you did either two decades ago, which the Signum Concord Act was created for,” Danny pointed out to him, making the Director pause at his own hypocritical comment.

The Signum Concord Act was a treaty that ended a pointless, massive war between five factions over two decades ago back on their previous home: _Earth_. Daniel’s own parents were both responsible in the creation of the law, integrating every faction member into Sigma Outpost—which was now officially called _Signum_. Every person—no matter their crime—is forgiven and is now a citizen of Signum provided that they only aim for the advancement and improvement of Signum and its society. They are to solemnly swear and pledge allegiance to Signum and its laws. Any citizen found guilty in the court of law will receive the punishment fit for the crime and will be delivered by the judge of the proceedings.

There weren’t any requirements for who should be allowed in. It never stated, and thus Anders was eligible for it. Even the slavers were, but instead, they were integrated first before being given a choice to join Signum or to leave. Of course, they would help send them back to their homes, but in the end, all the former slaves wanted to stay in Signum and pledged allegiance to it.

“Was _Kristoff_ informed about this?” Adam asked and Danny couldn’t help but grin widely at his question.

“Not yet, I’ll be informing him after this.”

Hudson was astounded. “We are actually considering this??”

“We don’t have a mage, Hudson.” Adam reasoned with him as he gestured out the windows. “Look. For the last six years, we never had a mage, yes? Some people are saying that because we are from Earth, we’ll never have a mage, but what if we do?? What if tomorrow there’s a child that accidentally sets his room on fire and burns the whole apartment down? Who’s going to teach him how to wield his magic, or how to handle _demons_ in the fade? Magic, fade, demons, harrowing rituals? Those are things we know nothing about, and they are implicating influences in this world of which we’re still trying to understand.”

Hudson remained silent, not having many arguments against that, and Daniel just listened quietly. He hadn’t realized his father had been thinking such things. I mean, what were they going to do? Well, Danny could always go to the Lavellan clan and ask for help, but what if they won’t teach him because he’s human?

And his father continued, “Besides… I’m sure Dr. Belle would be happy to have a mage working in her lab.”

Hudson then gave him a look. “…You are asking for chaos.” There was a hint of dry humor in his tone, to which Daniel was glad that at least Hudson could see the scientific endeavor in all this trouble.

“…Go ahead and tell him, Danny.” Adam had made his case now to the Director. “Make sure he is _fully_ informed. He’ll have to go through pre-integration and in a week or two, we will have him make the pledge.”

“Got it!” Danny saluted and walked out of the office.

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Once Anders was fully informed of all the arrangements, including joining Signum, he was all on board to start a new life. No longer camping outside of Signum, he was welcomed in as the giant wall metal doors started rolling up, allowing them access in. Sudoku and Danny led him in and the wall doors rolled back down, closing shut. Anders hardly paid attention to that as he was gaping at—what once had been a derelict thaig—a city of bright lights, metal, and strange unique designs never before seen. The two agents gave Anders time to take it all in: the sight, the sound, the smell…

Then a truck with crates was driving towards Anders direction. The mage was looking right at it, amazed…

BEEP! BEEP!

Anders stumbled over the loud horrific noise and Danny cracked up laughing.

“Move, _cosplayer!_ You’re blocking the road!” The driver shouted.

Sudoku went over, pulling Anders away to a safer spot and truck drove away. Danny just kept laughing as she instructed the mage. “You should mostly stay on the sidewalk.” She gestured to the different paths. “And stay out of traffic’s away.”

“…What was that?”

“A truck. Sort of like your horse carriages, only that it doesn’t need a horse.” She told him, and he remained gaping. Then she looked over and saw Danny had dropped to the ground, rolling around laughing. “If you’re almost done, Danny, we have to give him a short tour around the place and take him to his new flat.”

A couple more minutes, Danny got up, dusting himself and taking deep breaths. He limped over with broken ribs for laughing too much (just figuratively speaking, he didn’t actually break his ribs).

“Haaa… come on. We’ll need to buy you a wardrobe of clothes first anyway.”

They led him into the city passing through the double gated doors, and Anders could see there were more buildings. This place was a thaig, but it seemed like the people of Signum had renovated it completely, though still keeping some dwarven architecture. There were structures of houses against the walls and some further down, hidden by bigger structures: blocks of the tallest buildings that he had ever seen. Natural daylight poured down from the big crack above this wondrous, unimaginable city. There’s absolutely nothing in Thedas of which he could compare it with.

Anders was led away, mostly walking slowly all the time and in a daze. For him, it must be like walking through wonderland, Danny thought. The mage didn’t even notice that people were giving him looks. Some must have thought he was a cosplayer, but perhaps seeing the two agents with him, they must think him an outsider.

They made it to Oh-K clothing store owned by Mr. Chung. Mostly casual clothing and some formal. Most of the workers there know how to sew, so sometimes the business is mostly them fixing clothing. A whole century of an apocalyptic setting had taught people not to be wasteful, and only toss a bad shirt if it’s far beyond repair, or it had cat piss on it, because that stench would never go away.

“Ahh! Sudoku! Danny! Welcome!” Of course, Lee Chung was there to greet them.

Danny waved. “Hey, Mr. Chung, how’s the request for trade with Orlais?”

“It is on the way. One of your co-working agents—Adrian, I think was his name—had went to secure the shipment at Kirkwall. I can’t wait for all that new fabric and dyes!” He said excitedly. “Next, I’ll see if I can secure a trade with the Tevinter for clothing—and yes, I know they are bad, but they have good taste! …Who’s your friend? A cosplayer? He looks like a Thedosian hobo.”

Danny laughed again loudly and even Sudoku cracked a smile. Anders couldn’t help to ask, despite the rude comment, “That man on that truck called me that as well. What is a _cosplayer?_ ”

Then Lee Chung realized that he was _not_. “Ohhh… You’re an _outsider!!_ ” He loudly exclaimed, causing the employees and the few shoppers to turn their attention towards them.

Anders flushed a bit, embarrassed. Now he was surely feeling like an outsider, but Danny stepped in, smiling, as he clasped a hand on the mage’s shoulder. “This is _Kristoff!_ He’ll be living here in Signum from now on. Treat him kindly yes? We’re here to buy him some clothes for his wardrobe. Put it on my account, Mr. Chung.”

Mr. Chung, still gaping, nodded several times before taking off the measuring tape around his neck and moving towards Anders. He started measuring him and suggested to him for the sizes he should pick. Anders didn’t even know what clothes he should wear since everything was so alien to him, thus Danny and Sudoku helped pick out his clothes, even underwear.

An hour had passed and Mr. Chung thanked them and have a nice day after giving Anders a coupon.

“What is this?” Ander asked, holding up the slip of paper.

“It’s a coupon.” Danny answered. “It says 25% off, so the next time you buy clothes at his store, you’ll be paying less.”

Anders blinked. “…I… I don’t have any coin—and I’m not sure how to pay you back.”

“Don’t worry about it. I have more coin than I know what to do without,” Danny told him, waving off nonchalantly. “And you will get a job soon. In fact, your work starts tomorrow at 9:00 A.M. sharp.”

“ _9:00 A.M_. sharp?”

Sudoku sighed. “That is considered the morning. We'll teach you about time as well, or you'll learn on the job and such.”

“As a healer, yes?” Anders asked. “That is what I’m good at.”

“No. We have other people for that, we need you for something else,” Danny said as they stopped walking at the red light, and a trolley went through on the road, jingling away. Anders just watched the gold-trimmed red trolley move along with people on it, sitting on bench-like seats.

Then, the light turned green again and they crossed the street.

Daniel continued, “Kristoff, you’ll be working at the RML: Research & Medical Laboratory. Everything of science… I told them you’re a mage, and before you panic, let me tell you this… no one here in this city is a mage.”

Anders’ brows raised at that, shocked. “No one?”

“Absolutely no one...” Sudoku confirmed. “At least not yet. It has only been six years for us here in Thedas.”

Anders believed that. Everything here wasn’t Thedosian, excluding the Thaig architecture, but they didn’t build that. “Where were you all from originally?”

“A wasteland.” Danny answered, being vague about it since Anders hadn’t actually been made to pledge yet, so the history of Signum and Earth origin will have to remain a secret until then. “…Our homeland didn’t have magic. In fact, the fade doesn’t exist, nor demons, and most of all, magic—Did I mention _magic_ , Sudoku?

Sudoku answered immediately, “Yes, you did. Three times.”

He nodded. “Good. See, Kristoff, magic is just an illusion. A trick… To see someone conjure fire from their hands and throw it at an enemy is fucking amazing and yet so fucking terrifying. Like how the fuck do you that? Do you just wave your hand like Gandalf? Or wave a wand like Harry Potter? …I know you don’t understand some of the shit I just said, but the point is, Kristoff, we know fuck about magic.”

He paused, letting Anders dwell on his words for a little while longer. “…The only thing we know is science, and you’ll be working in the RML with the head scientist, Dr. Belle. She doesn’t believe magic and demons exist, and that everything has a scientific reason.”

Anders looked at us strangely. “…What do you mean?”

“I mean that she has an explanation for everything, and if she doesn’t, she’ll set out to find one and justify it with scientific evidence and reasons.” Daniel explained to him in a matter of fact tone, like he had almost given up on making her believe the shit he had already witnessed. “Like demons? She thinks they are intra-dimensional creatures from a beyond realm that you all call the fade. With the veil acting as a barrier, she thinks it’s not so difficult to enter it by ripping it—though we don’t ever attempt that! That’s fucking crazy, but you get the idea. She knows they’re real, but they’re not like spirits or anything, they are creatures with different laws of physics and body properties.”

Anders was just gaping, trying to formulate a response to that… that nonsense, even though most of the words he didn’t really understand the meaning of them. He turned to Sudoku to see if she felt the same way, and she only answered, “She tells us this all the time whenever we bring up demons…”

“Well… I actually cannot wait to meet her.” He settled with that. She would be interesting to meet.

They continued on and eventually came upon a row of elevators with different letters above the doors. Daniel instructed him to remember as best he could, knowing that Anders wouldn’t actually know the letters. He even got out a marker, and wrote down the letter E, then when they got on, he wrote the number level 17. The doors closed and they went up—Anders stumbled and frighteningly grasped for the handle bars.

“What the…?” He gasped as he looked out the elevator as it was mostly thick windows. They were higher above the ground.

“Yeah, man this shit scares me too.” Danny confessed as he was also holding on to a bar. “I mean, imagine. We all fall down and we’d probably die.”

Anders looked at him with wide eyes and it seemed like he was about to have a heart attack.

Sudoku just snapped, “Shut up, Danny.”

Danny laughed and after a minute or so, they stopped at level 17. They got off from there and walked further down the street, passing a convenience/liquor store, but otherwise more townhomes—rows of identical modern houses about three floors high. Anders just stared at the slick and smooth architecture that seemed quite pleasing to the eyes. They got into another elevator, same Level E and this time going down sub-level 4. That was where the apartment buildings are, and Ander’s new home.

They got off unto metal rails and walked along the white walls before they got to the double-glass doors. The doors opened by themselves and they walked in, Anders being cautious at the automatic doors.

“Hey.” Danny said as he took out the papers from his jacket, and handed it to the guy at the desk. “Here’s the order form and everything. Just show it to your boss.”

“R-right.” The young lad spoke hesitantly as he was distracted by the outsider. He took the paper and hurried to the back.

“What is this place?” Anders finally inquired after keeping quiet for a long while.

“This is your new home—well, the base of it. This is like a help and info desk, or if you lose your key, you can come here as well.” Danny said. “Otherwise, right now, we’re just trying to get your key, and that key opens up to your new home.”

He blinked. “J-Just like that? How much is the rent?”

“There’s no rent for this. Anyone can live here freely in this apartment complex, provided they could pay the deposit—which is an insured fee that if you move out and your home is damaged during your stay, they’ll use the deposit to repair. If it isn’t, you’ll get it back… And of course, it’s been paid for. So, you don’t have to worry about anything, but food, water, and clothing.”

Everything was just a lot to take in for Anders, so he settled on being quiet. He was at awe that he was given a home just like that.

The manager finally came out with a key and some papers. Danny had Anders sign—who was fascinated by the pen by the way—and after signing, the manager handed him a key-card, not what Kristoff was expecting, but this plastic card is a key to them. Danny led him through, going up another private elevator unto the third floor, and they looked for room 314.

Danny grinned. “Hahaha…pie.”

“Pi.” Sudoku smiled.

“What?” Anders of course inquired but they didn’t give him a straight answer.

Danny showed him how to use the key card, telling how to correctly position it and then sliding it through. They heard the door unlocking itself and Danny gestured him to open it. Anders opened it…

And it revealed a shoe-box sized room: there was a single bed to the far-left corner of the room with book shelves etched into the wall, a desk and a swivel chair just to the left of the entrance door, and to the right of the bed was a door that led to the bathroom. Danny showed him the desk, showing that there’s a fridge on the bottom left edge of the desk and above the desk is a microwave. He told them how they worked before moving on to the bed. He then lifted the highly-elevated bed as it went up like an opening chest lid, and underneath were more shelving and drawers for his clothes. There were also cupboards, and inside were some plates and cups and utensils. He lifted the bed back down and showed him the A/C against the wall, just above his bed, showing him that he could change turn on the heater or cooler. Danny showed him the bathroom and inside was a toilet, a sink, and a stand-up shower. From there, he started educating Anders on how to use the bathroom—especially the toilet. Anders of course was extremely bewildered before becoming immensely impressed at the convenience and high cleanliness.

“Well, I’ll let you get settled. You can go outside and explore the whole place if you like. You have the whole day. Here’s my card to pay for anything you need until you finally get your own salary,” Danny told him. He was always out working, so never did he buy too many things—only sometimes new clothing for if they get damaged beyond repair. Otherwise, his work always provided them supplies, and thus he had accumulated a lot of wealth over the years.

Anders of course witnessed Danny on how he paid with card back at the Oh-K store, so he knew how to pay for things if he needed anymore, especially food.

“I… Thank you. I don’t know how to pay you back.”

“Don’t. Consider this my payback for saving my life.” Danny insisted, and they were about to leave but he stopped, “Oh! I’m coming over tomorrow morning to pick you up for work. Okay?”

Anders nodded eagerly. “Yes. Yes, of course! I’ll be ready.” He remembered which clothes that Sudoku had pointed out that he should wear for work.

“Good.”

They left him now and they exit the place. Sudoku spoke, “At least, he’s not like the former slaves. I remember you telling me you had to hold their hands.”

“They never learned to be independent.” Daniel told her. “…It was painful, honestly, Sudoku. Even when I taught them how to use things, they couldn’t… I mean, one of them—Cyries, our only resident elf—he slept on the floor, rather than the bed.”

Sudoku hummed grimly. “…You also told me that he thanked you by kissing you on the cheek.”

“It’s what he was _taught_.” Danny snarled. Gods, did we wish all Tevinter should just burn. Fucking inhumane. He took a deep breath and out. “He’s better now, I heard… He’s working as a bartender and even attends the theater during the day… He’s living a life he never had…”

“…Everything will be okay.” She said.

“I know… well, you’re going over to the Lavellan clan tomorrow, right? For the trade?”

Sudoku nodded. “Yes. I’ll miss the meeting between him and Dr. Belle, but you’ll let me know how that turns out right?”

“Of course! It’s gonna be hilarious!” Danny said, grinning at that, but Sudoku wasn’t smiling as she clarified things, “…I mean… when she decides to use you to experiment with Ander’s magic.”

Danny cringed. “ _Ohhh_ … yeah that. I don’t think I have much of a choice.”

“…You can always say no.”

“I know…I know.”

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	8. One Thing After Another

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_Daniel saw only bright lights when he was reeled in on a gurney. He could see blurry faces only, and two he recognized to be his father and Dr. Belle._

_“Stay with me, Danny!” His father said, his voice echoing in his head._

_What was happening? Why was he here? And how…?_

_His thoughts stopped processing when his mind started to register the agonizing pain all over his body. It wrecked through him and his body started convulsing. An agonizing, hoarse cry ripped through from his throat, which made them panic as they tightened the straps of the gurney on him to keep him still._

_He was reeled into the room with all his teammates, going through the same painful ordeal._

_Daniel had no clue what was happening. He remembered Dr. Nguyen telling them to wait in the room, and then they had a radio with them. His father was telling him to reveal their location and get out of there… then canisters fell from the ceiling, releasing a mauve-like colored gas that flooded the room._

_“AAARRGGGH!! MAKE IT STOP!!” He heard Kyle scream and Danny turned his head, his teeth gritting as he saw Kyle._

_“IT BURNS!! IT BURNS! MAKE IT STOP!” He sobbed aloud and he wasn’t the only one voicing out his complains. There were his teammates also screaming and crying out in pains as if they were doused in gasoline and lit into flames._

_Danny turned his head to see his father was looking right at him with fear that he had never seen before. His father was always such a strong man, and he always looked up to him. Nothing deterred him, and he was also the perfect leader of Signum. He was fair, and just, and nothing could rattle him…_

_And now to see him so shaken… It reminded him of how human his father was. Some part of him thought his father never really cared for him… he only cared because he was the best soldier that came out from the program…but now…_

_“…D...ad…”_

_“I’m here. I’m here, just stay with me, Danny, I’m here with you,” He said and Danny could see him holding his hand tightly, but he couldn’t feel the warmth._

_Everything inside him burned and his whole body was writhing and shaking… then he stopped shaking. He stopped shivering. Suddenly, it was so much colder now. He heard the beeping noise of the heart monitor frantically speeding up._

_Then Danny closed his eyes._

_“We’re losing him!”_

_“DANNY!”_

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Present Time

Danny woke up that morning at 5:00 a.m. He washed his face and drank some warm, lemon water before starting out his warm-up routine. He did pushups, crunches, pullups, and lifted some weights until he was hot and sweaty then he started to do stretches for a good half an hour. He got into jogging pants and jacket and left his place 6:30 a.m. and went out for a jog in the morning.

He wasn’t the only one that morning as Sudoku went to join him.

“I thought you were going to Lavellan clan today.”

“I will, after my regime.”

They ran together only to join up with two others: Roje and Celine. Roje was a true Jamaican-dude with the accent and everything that he inherited from his deceased mother. Celene was an angel, which fit her profession as a doctor. The most unique thing about her is her full-body birthmark; she has a fair complexion and so to have a darker pigmentation mapping out all over her body like a continent of big and small islands, it’s pretty cool, even if she doesn’t think so.

They were also former agents of Signums.

“Aye! Good to see you two!” Roje exclaimed as he sped up a bit to catch up to the two of them, Celine did as well. “How’s all the scouting? I hear you two let in another outsider.”

“And I heard he’s a mage!” Celine piped in. “Is he fitting in well?”

Daniel turned his head. “Yes. We did. And it’s too soon to tell, but I think he’ll do just fine.”

“So, Hudson is letting you all get away with this?” Roje asked.

“Sudoku and I are special agents of Signum, Roje, I’m pretty sure we can get away with _some_ of the rules, or at least some exceptions. Wanna see? You two could join back in again, seeing that you can’t stop your regime!”

“Pass!” Roje stated. “I think I’ll stay as the Theater’s manager. I’ve got sales from movie tickets and the community plays. The Lion King play is a hit so far.”

“You’re bringing this mage to Dr. Belle?” Celine asked curiously, getting back on the hot topic.

Sudoku answered aptly. “Yes.”

“How do you two even know this?” Daniel demanded.

“Everyone gossips here. Signum is a small town, and news of an outsider is big,” Celine explained to him. “Watch it with Dr. Belle. We all know what you can do.”

Daniel rolled his eyes. “I know that!” He was mentally preparing for it all last night. He ran faster and the others picked up the pace.

After their exercise regime, it was already 7:30, and Danny ended his earlier as he went to Mrs. Potter’s Brunch and Dine, ordering two omelets to go. He made it to Ander’s place five minutes before 8:00 and he rapidly rang the bell a couple of times.

There was a rustling noise and someone hurried to the door, opening it, confused. He looked at Danny, blinking, “What was that noise?”

“The door bell,” Danny said as he pressed the button on the side again. “Wakey, wakey!”

Anders looked at him unamused then he paused, smelling a faint scent of…food. “Is that…?”

“Breakfast? Yup.” Danny made his way inside and the mage let him as he placed the bag on the table.

From there, they started eating breakfast together and Anders munched on his food with gusto. He hadn’t a lot of good food since being on the run, but after arriving here in Signum, he was enjoying himself, and it hasn’t even been completely two days. Danny waited, browsing on his phone as Anders went to take a quick shower, which he called it to be highly invigorating, more so than a bath.

After the mage had gotten ready, they exited the flats complex and head out to the more populated levels of Signum. As they passed by, many people were greeting Danny, and Danny said hi to them back, even knowing their names and asking specific things that one would only be so amiable with, like their cat, or their career, their haircut, or affair, etc.

“You’re…popular here. Do you know almost everyone here?”

“It’s a small town. Everyone knows everyone.” Danny simply said, and plus his father was head honcho of Signum (other than the Director), but Kristoff didn’t need to know that yet.

They made it to the ground level of the thaig which had the main road connected towards the direction of the entrance of this thaig. They continued on to the eastern district and Anders noticed large pillars that were glowing blue. He could sense lyrium from those pillars.

“Is that all lyrium inside those giant pillars?”

“Yup. They power the city. It’s how we have lights and not need candles.”

“So that’s how….” Anders awed. “…But how exactly?”

“All I know is that we use electricity. If you want to know more, you can talk to Dr. Belle. She can explain things far better than I ever could.”

Anders fell to anxious silence. He really could not wait to start his new day at work in order to learn more things of Signum and also to teach about magic in return.

“This is it. The RML. Research Medical Laboratory.” He gestured as they stopped in front of large rounded structure, mostly contained of windows.

Daniel led him inside and there were only a few people working in this building. At least about eight, and two of them were still just students. They walked into the main hall, catching the attention of every person in the room as they all realized that he was the mage. Meanwhile, Anders was distracted at all the lights and inventions around the place. He could see an elf root in a water-contained jar, some vials bubbling like they were mixing potions, and there were lyrium shards within glass containers.

“Danny!” Dr. Belle made an appearance as she walked right up to the young man and hugged him.

“Good to see you, Dr. Belle.” Danny hugged her back then he pulled away, gesturing to meet Kristoff. “Dr. Belle this is—”

“Kristoff. Yes, I’ve heard. A mage! Finally, we can do research that we haven’t done before on this nonsense called magic!” She said as she held her hand out to Anders. “Hello and welcome to Signum! I’m Dr. Belle.”

Anders smiled as he reached out, shaking her hand though with a raised brow. “ _Nonsense called magic?_ ” He repeated her words.

“Well, obviously! Magic is an illusion, and from what I hear, it is no illusion. In fact, you have the ability to weave _reality_.”

“Weaving reality?” He questioned.

They just met and already there was a conflict of facts and hypothesis, and it was just the beginning. As fun as it would be to listen to them make their points, Danny never did have the patience to listen to any educational debate.

“Well! I’ll be going now! See ya!” Danny said, trying to leave in a hurry, but he couldn’t get away fast enough.

“Oh! Wait a second, Danny!” Daniel tried not to cringe as he turned to see a beaming Dr. Belle as she continued, “now that we do have a mage, let’s test out your ability in the testing chamber!”

“Great…”

“Oh, come now, Danny, it hardly affects you.” She would have none of his whining. Meanwhile, Anders just stood there confused and out of the loop on what they were talking about. He didn’t have time to ask either way as Dr. Belle was already leading them to the elevator and down to another floor where it was more secure and stable.

The testing chamber is what it is called. There were two rooms: one of observation and the other was a much larger room that could fit a banquet party of a hundred people. However, it was only him and Anders in this chamber while Dr. Belle was in the observation with computer panels that had surveillance within the chamber equipped with detecting thermal signatories, electromagnetic waves, and any other anomalies.

“She wants me…to hit you with a fireball—are you sure this is safe?” Anders asked, uncertain of this demand from the Head scientist.

Danny was at least ten feet away from Anders, just casually stretching, though he was feeling a little nervous. “Yeah! You’ll be fine!”

“Ugh, Maker’s sakes! I mean will _you_ be safe?? I’m not the one getting hit by a ball of fire, you know!”

“Oh me? Yeah, totally. Just hit me with your best shot!”

Anders sighed in exasperation as he prepared himself. He surely did not want to throw a fireball at Danny, but they all seemed fine with it. They mentioned of Danny having some sort of ability though he wondered what. The room was strange: titanium walls and tile white tiled floors. Testing chamber… what sort of tests did they run here?

“Take your time.” Dr. Belle’s voice came out from a speaker above the glass window of their viewing room.

“No. Anytime would be good, or I’m bailing out,” Danny said, and it was directed more to Anders than it did to Dr. Belle.

“Alright, alright.” Anders said. Well, they all seemed okay with the young lad getting hit with flames…

So, Anders prepared then he began to pull from the fade, weaving the fabric and harnessing its power and his mana. Heat rose from the palms of his hands and he controlled the flames that danced upon his flesh. He focused, encircling those flames into a ball and with that, he threw it.

The ball of fire flew straight at Danny about to hit…

Only for it to burst upon impact against an invisible force before fading away, leaving Daniel **unharmed**.

Anders blinked, then his eyes widened in realization as he straightened up, flabbergasted from what he had just witnessed. It seemed like the magic just hit an unseen barrier that was surrounding Danny… and Danny was just standing there, doing nothing with his arms crossed and that cheeky grin of triumph. Then… suddenly it made sense… The words he said when he told him he was a healer—Danny told him not to use magic or health potions. No magic at all, because it wouldn’t work…

Magic didn’t work on Danny.

The intercom speaker turned on. “Excellent! That will be all, gentlemen!”

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“You’re immune to _magic?_ You’re _immune_ to magic!!” Anders was blown away.

Danny grinned a bit. “You know, I like how you differentiate your emphasized words.”

They were now out of the testing chambers and in the observation room with Dr. Belle.

“How? How is that possible?” Anders asked. He didn’t think he would be any more shock and surprised than he was after seeing Signum and its alien and unforeseen technology, but this! _THIS!_

“Look.” Dr. Belle gestured to the big monitor above them as it showed the video of the demonstration of the two. The video caught their rapt attention as it played out. There were also readings on their vitalities and their surroundings.

Dr. Belle was speechless. “Amazing… Kristoff, when you started moving, the EMR readings were off the charts.”

“EMR?” He turned to her.

“Electromagnetic radiation or waves… It started a moment before you began to move your hands, and look, your heat signature spiked up when you were conjuring fire. I wonder if it’s the same with creating ice, but with the opposite effect…” She wondered as she played the video, letting it continue to show Anders throwing the fireball at Danny.

Just as Anders had seen it, the fireball stopped and it seemed to have hit an invisible wall that was a foot away from Danny.

“Ah! I knew it! Danny, you cancel out those waves. Look here. Your EMR readings only went up when Kristoff was manipulating the electromagnetic field around him. With it, he used a technique to somehow speed up the molecules on his palms to create fire from just the air, and he bend the fire to his will. Your body, Danny, was already responding to it. I wonder what the distance would be, because you cancelled it out immediately.” Dr. Belle said as she turned to Danny. “You, my dear, have an invisible _templar_ shield surrounding you… I wonder if you could extend that shield. But still! Rather fascinating! I knew magic was an illusion. Everything was the manipulation of EMR, especially with this veil acting as such a thin barrier to the other reality called the face—of which you, Kristoff, are harnessing.”

Anders just blinked as Dr. Belle just kept talking, rambling on with a lot of words that he couldn’t understand nor discern. He turned to Danny, who only shrugged.

Danny thought: Realist: 01 | Arcanist: 00

“Well!” Danny piped in, interrupting Dr. Belle’s scientific argument and analysis of the video. “I probably should be going now.”

“Wait!” Anders stopped him. “You have to tell me why magic doesn’t work on you. I mean, I’ve met dwarves with high magical resistances, but that’s it! Just resistance. You are completely _immune_ of it! And—as _Doctor_ Belle here put it—you cancel magic! _How??_ ”

Danny pursed his lips then he turned to Dr. Belle. “You tell him.” With that, he just hurried out of the testing chambers, leaving the building completely.

It was a question he could never answer directly, and just like this ability, he would rather just forget.

.

.

.

Five days later, Daniel went to Signum’s front gate to meet up with Arnav. He had received a text that morning that he just returned with the lyrium shipment as well as the safety of the Valo-Kas Mercenary—not that they needed protection, but it’s always a mission complete when no one dies.

When he got there, there was a small party that he recognized to be from the Civil Liberties Group. He recognized the leader and he went up to her immediately, “Mrs. Lugue!”

She turned to him and her face brightened up. “Danny! Maybe you can convince them!”

“Convince what exactly, and Mmmmm, that smells good. Filipino barbeque?” Daniel asked as he saw she and her group were carrying a table, some chairs, and a lot of food.

“Mm-hmm! And some chorizo, garlic rice, with some sliced tomatoes and scrambled eggs. A good hearty breakfast for the Valo-Kas mercenary outside.”

Danny blinked at that. “You want to go meet some Qunari?”

“I’ve only seen them in the photos, and mind you they are scary looking, but I heard they also lost some people on the first delivery of lyrium, so I thought it’d be nice to give them something tasty for all their travelling and work.”

He thought about it before nodding and agreeing. “Sure! Let me go give a yes to the guards outside and then you all can head out.”

The group cheered as their efforts won’t be in vain and Danny head out to tell the guards to let them out. He’ll stay outside with Arnav until every civil liberty member is back inside Signum. The guards agreed and they let them out.

Danny went out first with the Civil Liberty group just behind him and started setting up the tables and placing the food. The Valo-Kas watched them curiously—well, some of the members. The others were being taught by Arnav on how to use the bathroom. After finding feces outside Signum just behind the bushes, they set up a convenient, working public bathroom outside for the Valo-Kas and any other outsider to use.

Danny went over to them once Arnav was done with the toilet tutorial. “Hey! Inera, right? How are you and your group doing?”

“Fine, we are doing fine… what are they doing?” Inera questioned.

Danny looked over to see a truck and four workers, coming out and loading up the crates of lyrium to bring back inside Signum. “They’re our lyrium handlers. They’re bringing the shipment you delivered into Signum.”

Inera rolled her eyes. “No. I mean, _them_. I know you can see them.” Of course, she was referring to Mrs. Lugue and the others.

He just cheekily grinned. “Oh them? Setting up the food? …They’re the civil liberties group. They’re quite the activists on natural rights, but they are also a charitable group. They made breakfast for you lot.”

Inera blinked. “…For free?”

“Yes. They made the food personally for the Valo-Kas. They heard what happened on the first delivery, and so they wanted to do something nice.” Danny smiled.

Arnav then cut in, “Wait. I can eat that too, right? I mean, I was with them on this journey, and we haven’t eaten breakfast!” He was insisting his right to eat the food as well and Danny rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you can eat, Arnav.”

“Alright! Yo, Ketim! Akarad! All of you, get over here!” He called, gesturing them to hurry over. He had gotten familiar and friendly with the Valo-Kas mercenary group, and they even listened as they curiously followed him to the table of food.

Mrs. Lugue hesitantly approached Danny and Inera. She was around 4’9” and thus very short compared to the really tall female Qunari. Inera almost mistook her for a dwarf or a hefty elf. He didn’t think humans could come this small.

Danny then introduced her. “Inera, this is Mrs. Lugue. She organized the meals and I’m sure she cooked the food herself.”

Mrs. Lugue smiled. “I only hope you all would like it.”

Inera blinked, still surprised at such kindness. “…Hi. Thank you very much, but we do get paid for our work, there is no need to—”

“Ohh but there is. You’ve all probably had a tiring journey, and we just wanted to do something nice for our hard-working outsiders.” She said, smiling warmly.

Inera tilted her head. “Outsiders?”

Mrs. Lugue blinked and she covered her mouth. “Ohh, I mean visitors! Sorry, we always refer to anyone who is not of Signum an outsider, but nothing anything offensive to it! I swear!”

“Oh. Do not worry. I have noticed that.” Inera said as she glanced at the giant metal doors that were lowered halfway. It showed nothing else but an uphill road where the truck carrying the lyrium was disappearing into. “For being a reclusive community, you all are extremely kind folks. Perhaps it is better if you do not get involved in this foul outside world…”

“Ohh, I wouldn’t call it foul. After all, there are people like you—hardworking and polite folks—living in this world, right? We are glad to have met you. Please, help yourselves. Come eat. I’ll show you what’s good to eat.”

Inera’s expression softened as she let the short woman lead her to the table, where the others were starting to fight over the food, grabbing as much as they can as they eat with gusto. They stopped when their leader scolded them to behave.

Danny watched this scene as those of the civil liberty group started conversing with the Vashoth qunari. To be honest, Signum themselves were the complete outsiders. They were the offworlders that stumbled into Thedas by a portal ripped through time and space—to escape their dying world that had no saving…and it was humans’ doing that destroyed the planet. They were using lyrium instead of fossil fuels or any other harmful chemicals that could damage this world. They’ve been here in Thedas for six years, and never had he witnessed an interaction like this. Their citizens safe from the outside world where interacting with the inhabitants, and....

…It was a sign of hope… Hope that Signum will be a part of this world without hiding anymore in the shadows and within a derelict of an abandoned thaig.

Arnav then shoved a Hawaiian bread against Danny’s face without warning. “You’re thinking too hard.”

“Shut up.” Danny glared at him with annoyance as he snatched the bread and shoved Arnav back before taking a bite from the soft pandesal. “…I was just thinking about Signum not hiding anymore…”

“…Uhm… It could happen, but like… what about the guns? The tech? We might ruin Thedas.”

“Yeah… I know…”

There were too many uncertainties for it to happen. Maybe in the future it can happen, but in this age of the Dragon, he wasn’t sure.

The Valo-Kas ate and rested mostly half the day and used the restrooms outside, which they found amazing and clean. They expressed how they honestly felt quite spoiled and even offered their services to them if anything else were to arise other than delivering lyrium. They would be leaving first thing in the morning and the civil liberties group helped with the bartering to replenish their supplies for their long journey back.

Arnav then went to see Dr. Belle and report the lyrium delivery, and such. Also, to check stock if they need anymore or if they’re good for the next month or so. These lyrium batteries last forever, but Signum is always building new things and improving the current ones, like switching the trucks and jeeps’ engines with lyrium generated engines.

_Then_ , Danny remembered about Anders and immediately he ran for the RML where Arnav was heading.

When he arrived there, it was already too late.

“What are you!?” Arnav screamed and demanded, pointing right at Anders, who was startled from the sudden accusation. Dr. Belle was also astounded as she got up, looking between him and Anders.

Just like Danny, Arnav possesses an ability that can allow him to see a person, if he or she is a mage, a templar, or someone possessed. In this case, he could see Justice inside Anders. This was not good.

Danny rushed over to Arnav. “Wait, Arnav-!”

Too late. Arnav had panicked. “That guy has TWO FACES! He’s possessed! He is an _abomination!!!_ He has a demon!”

And Anders stood there shocked at his words: how did he know? Two faces? He could see Justice? He was suddenly aware of the eyes looking at him in the room, even Dr. Belle. It seemed like the other scientists just moved a couple of steps back away from Anders even though they weren’t even close to him. Dr. Belle who was only a foot away, just leaned back and looked at him thoughtfully (someone who doesn’t believe in demons don’t scare easily nor would they think it’s the truth).

“Bye everyone!” Danny then dragged Arnav out of the room, excusing themselves casually, before pushing Arnav into a random office room. “What is _wrong_ with you!?”

“What is wrong with me?! What is wrong with _you!?_ ” Arnav demanded. “You let a demon in here?!”

“First off. He’s still Kristoff, and second, I invoked the Signum Accord Act.”

“That counts only to people, not fucking demons!!”

Danny decided to wait it out as he leaned against the desk, letting Arnav ramble on in panicked mode and giving his arguments and such. He knew in the beginning from what he had just eavesdropped from Anders, Hawke, and his friends, that there was a spirit Justice possessing Anders. He hadn’t gone crazy or had done anything to hurt them yet. So, what was the big deal?

“—And with him here, they’re going to start studying us again! They’re going to trap us here in this lab—”

Danny grabbed Arnav and shook him hard. “Stop. STOP. _Just STOP!”_ He ordered and his friend finally did stop. He took a moment to let Arnav relax before he continued, saying, “…They are _not_ going to do that… not ever again. Do you hear me? …I won’t let that happen.”

“…Did Dr. Belle already asked you stand there and get hit by whatever magic that guy throws at you?” Arnav asked, looking up with a solemn face.

Danny frowned. “I don’t get hurt, and I volunteered. It wasn’t against my will.”

His friend shook his head. “Does it matter? You’re never comfortable with it—we were never _comfortable_ with the things they did to us, and Dr. Nguyen—that bastard ruined us!!… What happened to Kyle and Glynda…and…”

He trailed off, and they both fell into silence as nightmarish memories resurfaced and reminded them how helpless they felt.

… _Beep!...Beep!..._

Danny and Arnav’s phones both beeped, a notification of an instant text message that disrupted the tense silence. Arnav didn’t try to answer, so Danny pulled back and he took out his phone to check the message.

His eyes widened. “…Oh shit.” What the fuck?

“What…?” Arnav asked and quickly he took out his phone to see the message.

 

> **Sudoku:** _Lavellan Clan and I are held hostages. Send help._

 

It was just one thing after another, wasn’t it?

.

.

.


	9. Rescue Clan Lavellan!

.

.

.

Daniel cared not for what anyone had to say to him as he was preparing his team for war. They had guns and ammunitions, and they even hired the Valo-Kas mercenary since they were still in the area. They were going to rescue the Lavellan Clan, and they were leaving within thirty minutes.

It was him, Arnav, and three other guys preparing themselves. Roje and Celene also joined up, volunteering their services. This was Sudoku in trouble.

Arnav went out the door already, but stopped as he stumbled back, letting out a startled cry. “ _AH!_ ”

The others looked over to see it was just Anders coming in, and he was dressed up as them. Metal armor on areas where it could block a sword and underneath were padded leather that would stop a bullet; it was light armor. Danny never wore it until now because it stood out too strange for Thedosians, but this was an emergency situation, and they were going to war. Plus, it looked like Anders wanted to join them.

“Back the fuck up!” Arnav snapped and Anders listened as he held his hands up, submitting.

Daniel sighed. “Arnav. He’s fucking harmless… everyone, get to the jeep.” He ordered. With such hostility, Arnav glared at Anders as he went around him, not showing his back to him and then running off like his life depended on it. Celene and Roje just looked at Anders strangely before following after Arnav in long strides as they carried their gear out.

“What are you doing?” Danny asked, leaning back against the wall with his rifle at his side.

Anders shrugged. “I want to help. I want to join your party and help save Clan Lavellan.”

Danny figured that was why the mage was here, but he wondered. “Why? You don’t know them.”

“No, I don’t but I heard Sudoku is among them. And also, I am aware of the Signum Accord Act and Cora had explained it to me in great detail.” He told him. “…I want to be part of Signum… for the past few days, I have been seriously considering on staying here with a permanent residency and if possible upgrading to a bigger flat and adopting a cat, and I can name that cat Mr. Whiskers or Ser Pounce a lot the second—point is...! …I want to help, and that means rescuing teammates and defending allies... I want to be a part of Signum.”

Danny just raised a brow at the strange pet names for the future cat, but after a moment, he shrugged. “Okay. Sure. You can come. And you can get your future cat: Ser Pounce-a-lot the 2nd.”

The mage nodded, liking the sound of that. Danny then gestured him to follow out and they both did. They were now waiting outside the gates with the mercenary, Valo-Kas, waiting in attendance.

“Thank you for joining us.” Danny said, going up to Inera and holding his hand out to her.

Inera reached out and shook it. “We wanted to help. One of your own is in trouble, right?”

“Yes.”

Then they hear a strange noise and a loud horn that startled the mercenary group. Anders had already learned to stay out of its way as he and the others stepped away from its path. At least five jeeps rolled out of the giant gates and the Valo-Kas mercenary had their jaws dropping as they watched these strange wagon-contraptions with no horses, but there was at least one person each in the vehicle driving it. The others started getting on and Anders followed—well, on a separate jeep from Arnav, respecting his presence.

Danny got on the first jeep that would be leading out and he looked at the Valo-Kas mercenary that were still standing there gaping.

“Well? What are you waiting for? Let’s go!”

.

.

.

Past

_“How are they, Dr. Rontgen?”_

_“Stable for now. I’m not sure what Dr. Nguyen did to them, but they are not out of danger yet.”_

_Daniel woke up in the middle of the night. He was in the infirmary along with the rest of his teammates. It had been five days since the incident and they still weren’t sure of what Dr. Nguyen had done to them, even to his own daughter. He looked around and he noticed two more beds were empty: Joon and Pranay, Arnav’s twin sister, used to lie there. Did they pass away too?_

_“I… I can’t believe he did this… I should have seen this coming.” He could hear Dr. Belle’s voice from down the hall. They were talking softly and yet audible enough for him. Daniel had his back turned to them, so they didn’t know he was awake._

_Dr. Rontgen responded solemnly. “The same here… he’s been acting so strange with all the lyrium and the darkspawn studies.”_

_“This project is over!” His father suddenly snapped. “Destroy every darkspawn. I’m not letting that fucking project continue any longer.”_

_“B-but…” Dr. Rontgen stuttered. “We’re close! We are so close to finding a cure for the blight—just a little longer, Commander—!”_

_“No. I still have to deal with Hudson’s betrayal. I don’t want to deal with this anymore. Do you understand me, Dr. Rontgen? …Already seven of our kids have passed, and now I have to tell Mr. Patel and Mr. Chung that their children are dead… and the rest are still holding on, even though they are at death’s doorstep, so forgive me, Dr. Rontgen, but unless this ‘cure’ of yours can save our children, I care not for it when that experiment is the reason that they are dying!”_

_“Adam, your voice…!” Dr. Belle scolded him a bit, not wanting to wake them up, but Daniel was sure that some of them were already awake and were quietly listening._

_“I’ll… I’ll stop the project.” Dr. Rontgen solemnly relented._

_“…Good.”_

_Their footsteps walked away, echoing from down the halls until it was only silence, indicating that they were all finally alone._

_“…Danny…” He heard Kyle next to him with a hoarse voice—probably from all the screaming. “…Are we dying…?”_

_Danny couldn’t answer. He had lost his voice and could hardly try to speak without the pain rising. Lying still helped, but… he reached out to Kyle with a fist closed tight._

_Kyle turned to look at him with a face that seemed so hopeless and close to giving up, but after seeing that fist, his face hardened. He reached out as well, and the two bumped fists. “I got it… I got it… we’ll make it out.”_

.

.

.

Present

They made it camp Lavellan and Danny was furious.

There were dead elves all over the camp. He recalled there were at least a total of thirty of them here, but now…to see most of them dead, both women, men, and children. Hurriedly, they looked around, and no signs of their friends among the dead. That meant they were still alive.

“Danny! Wagon tracks!” Roje called out and they went over to his direction. Sure enough, there were wagon tracks and they were taking the main high road, leading north. They were going to Tevinter.

“We’ll find them, Danny.” Arnav said.

Celine looked around. “What do we do with…them?” She asked.

“…Nothing… We have to get back the others first, and then we’ll come back to do a proper burial.” Danny ordered. They can’t lose track of them now, not when they were so close to the trail.

They got back on the jeeps. Seeing the dead corpses had simmered down the excitement of riding the jeeps again, and the vashoths’ wonderment also ended, already wearing serious, grim faces.

They were getting back on the jeep when Arnav gasped aloud out of nowhere, having a seizure. Everyone paused looking at him strangely and Anders went over to him to see if he could heal him, but Danny grabbed him, stopping him.

“No, no, don’t— _AH!_ Why me?!” Arnav cried out as he fell to the ground.

Anders tried to push Danny away. “Let go! Can’t you see he’s hurting?!”

“It’s not what you think!” He said as he kept the mage away and even Roje held the mage back. Then Arnav passed out, now lying still on the ground. The strange episode was over, but everyone waited…

A second after, he rose back up on his feet, devoid of emotion. “ _Danny. North. They’re in cages_.”

“ **Adrian!** ” Danny felt relieved. He had found them. “Are they safe? Are they okay? What about Sudoku?”

“ _They are safe for now. They are hurt. Sudoku is… she cannot do a thing without the others getting hurt._ ”

Well, shit. “…Keep an eye on them. We’ll be there shortly.”

“ _I think they’ll be stopping for the night. Hurry._ ” Then Arnav’s eyes rolled and he looked like he was about to faint then he stumbled, gaining his footing. He looked around, furious. “You asshole!! All the fucking time—Why me!?”

“Arnav! We need to go!” Danny said as he was getting on the jeep with the others following, including an extremely bewildered Anders.

“ _Asshole!_ ” Arnav continued to yell at the invisible ghost before he got back on the other jeep. The occupants there looked at him strangely, before he whirled at them and yelled for the looking.

“Adrian… is that also your teammate?” Anders questioned, turning to Danny. “Was he involved in that… _incident?_ ” He was slightly informed by Dr. Belle of their situation. The details of the incident were still secretive, but from what he gathered, that experiment had cost lives…but it gave certain individuals strange abilities.

“He can possess people. Adrian.” Roje was the one who answered. “He can go _ghost_.”

“Ghost?”

“You know. Ghost. He can leave his body and go inside someone else’s, possessing them for the time being.”

Anders blinked as he looked at Daniel, who now ordered for them to ‘roll out’ and they continued on the main road. Damn the primitive Thedosians who would see strange vehicles on the road. Their friend was in danger.

Meanwhile, Anders was left to ponder these… abilities…

Daniel was immune to magic.

Arnav could see him—or Justice, specifically.

And this Adrian could possess people.

There were also three more of them as Dr. Belle had said there were only a total of six that survived the attack. If that so, was Sudoku involved as well? He wondered who were the other two. He wondered what abilities they had that seemed to defy the natural laws of Thedas.

.

.

.

Mahanon’s POV

They were all in two big cages—whatever was left of his clan. Only less than half of the clan remained alive while the rest were slaughtered. At the moment, he was with Sudoku who was injured from the fight. At first, they were winning until the ~~human~~ —Tevinter bastards got a hold of some hostages. They had to surrender, and those bastards ended up killing a lot of them. Mahanon recognized two of the bandits from the first time they were captured… Fucking assholes… They should have just killed them instead of letting them go.

Keeper Deshanna patted Sudoku’s bleeding temple with a soft cloth. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I am fine. This is nothing.” Sudoku replied softly. “…Do not worry. Help will come soon.”

“Oh really? What makes you so sure?” Lesas demanded, looking grim.

“Because Signum will come.” Mahanon interjected, supporting it. “They _will_ come.”

“This is _their_ fault in the first place!” His friend hissed, keeping his voice low, though right now those Tevinter bastards were sitting around the campfire, drinking and celebrating for a job well done.

Lesas continued, “It is _them_ , they wanted first. If they had just killed those remaining mercenaries—”

“Enough, Lesas.” Tamnar interrupted him, his hand gesturing him to stop. “We are being approached.”

A stumbling, drunken Vint was walking over to them to the cage. He leaned in the bars, looking quite dull and he was staring straight at Sudoku, which in turn, she glared back at him. Mahanon didn’t like the look on him and he was ready to punch him square in the face.

“Sudoku. It’s me. _Adrian._ ”

Sudoku’s eyes widened and she moved towards him. Meanwhile, Mahanon stood there confused. What? Was this a trick? How could this Vint know Adrian? Plus, he looked nothing like Adrian, and if this was him in disguise, the height was off.

“Adrian.” Sudoku spoke with relief. “Where are the others?”

“They’re ready to ambush. Let me just get you out of here.”

“Wait!” Sudoku stopped him. “This cage is rigged to explode if it is opened. Look.” She gestured her head and there were dwarven bombs right behind the cage. “You need time to disable it. I can walk you through it. I’ve watched them.”

Adrian nodded. “Okay, let me go tell Danny.”

Then this Adrian fell over, hitting himself against the bars and the others pulled away. The real Vint now woke up groggily. “Ugh, what in the maker’s balls?” He asked himself as he got up and staggered away back to the campfire.

Excluding Sudoku, Mahanon and the rest remained still, pondering what in the creators’ void just happened??

Then…Mahanon recalled…

 

 

> _Then, in some twisted fate, one of the mages stopped firing and started to prepare this condensed orb of electricity, placing more pressure to increase the force. They expect him to throw it at Daniel. It would just go right up and then down at the target. However, instead, the mage faced one of his friends and fired it right in front, killing him from the full blast._
> 
> _The ring leader was shocked. “...Ch…CHORAS! …Marius, why…?”_
> 
> _The ring leader was stunned. “What… what did you do? …What did HE do!??!” He demanded and he was talking directly to Daniel, who was sticking his head out from his hiding spot._
> 
> _“What? He didn’t do nothing. My friend here is sleeping!” Daniel shouted._
> 
> _Mahanon frowned. Why was Adrian sleeping---No wait, the human was getting up now, gasping aloud as if he had woken up from a nightmare._

His eyes widened at the realization as he turned to Sudoku. “He can _possess_ people? How is he doing that?”

Mahanon watched her as she opened her mouth to try to explain but nothing was coming out. Before he could prod her for more questions, the celebration with the Vints were interrupted when Danny waltzed right in with Arnav, the mage ( _Kristoff_ , if he recalled), and two unfamiliar faces, but they looked to be of Signum. No other Thedosian carried weapons like they had.

A Tevinter with a crossbow aimed at Danny, but Danny draw his pistol first form the side and all too casually fired at the archer. _BANG!_ The noise startled them all, even sleeping birds from nearby trees flew away, and the archer dropped dead.

Thick tension grew as dread silenced the area, not even critters or crickets made noises. There seemed to be a staring stand-off for a moment longer until Daniel finally spoke, “Sorry for crashing in. We’re looking for some of our friends, and I see you have custody of them.

He was talking directly to the guy with fancy, expensive clothes. Mahanon noted that Danny seem to know who’s the douchebag in charge of things as there were a couple of other mages with the Vint.

“Yes, we do, and before you do anything, I only need to use one spell word and your friends will meet their demise in seconds.” The Vint quickly interceded, gesturing to the large dwarven explosions next to their cages. “So, if I were you, I’d think twice before you using that… _gun_ …again.”

Daniel then glowered at the man and said, “I do hope you wouldn’t do that unless you wanted a _death wish_?”

The Vint tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Perhaps we can all come in to a _truce_? Honestly, we only ever captured these elves, because we heard you and your people, Signum, were friendly with them. We only wished to learn more about you, and it seemed like the only way to do that was to lure you out through them. Perhaps… we can finally have a diplomatic chat where neither party have to end in bloodshed?”

“ _Bastard!_ You’ve already done that!” Arnav snarled as he lunged but Daniel had an arm on him, pushing him back. “You’ve _murdered_ nearly half the clan!!”

“Ah! I suppose I did. Unfortunate, it is, but I’m sure we can get around that—”

“Unfortunate?! Are you stupid?!” Arnav hissed. The Vints’ words not only infuriated him, but Mahanon and his family as well.

The bastard only continued, believing he could still remain diplomatic, “Ohhh, don’t be so put out. There are plenty more of them, besides they are only _rabbits._ ”

At least five rifles and pistols clicked and cocked, aiming right at the Tevinter, and that struck fear among them as the Signum people looked ready to kill them right then and there.

“Don’t. Call. Them. _Rabbits_.” Danny growled and his finger was so ready to pull the trigger.

Mahanon slightly trembled, seeing not only Danny and Arnav, but more defending them, and not even letting these shem—Tevinter bastards get away, not even such foul words. Meanwhile, Mahanon noticed that one of the Vints (the same one that was drunk earlier) had gotten close to the explosives, and Sudoku was there at the edge of the cage, whispering how to disarm it. Was it Adrian again possessing the drunkard? Creators, this may take a while to get used to. However, Mahanon realized now that Danny was trying to buy time.

“Are you insane?!” The Vint exclaimed. “Did I not tell you that I have these cages rigged to explode?”

Daniel scoffed. “I can kill you where you stand right now before you could even _blink_ , let alone say your spell word! …But since I’m trying to be _courteous_ , why don’t I give you a chance to explain yourself? What does a Tevinter noble like yourself want with Signum?”

“What do _I_ want with a mysterious group of people living inside a derelict, dwarven thaig that had murdered my brother? I want to know what you people really are, and I must admit, your weapons are proving to be quite superior, and yet you have no expertise of the fade, do you?” His response derailed the Signum operatives, and even Mahanon. Beyond those metal gates was a thaig? Why were humans living in a thaig? The Tevinter only continued, “ _I_ want to know where you all come from, because the spirits and the demons of the fade all say you came from another _world._ ”

 

 

> _“So where are you all from?” Mahanon asked._
> 
> _Daniel turned around. “Hmmm??”_
> 
> _“I mean, you said you’ve only been here for six years? Here in Thedas?” Mahanon asked. “I mean, where could you be from outside Thedas?”_
> 
> _Daniel’s eyes widened. He was not supposed to know that_
> 
> _“I wish I could tell you, Mahanon, but I can’t. It’s not just_ my _secret.” He told him. “But yeah, we’re not from around here…”_

Was this Tevinter speaking truth? Were Daniel, Sudoku, Arnav, Adrian, and the rest of Signum people from another world? It was so quiet now that they can only hear the cinders of the campfire crackling. Mahanon could see their eyes widened, and it was obvious they didn’t like what they were hearing: the spirits and demons of the fade said that they are from another world.

To make it worse, the Tevinter only continued, “They say it is a place called _Earth_. A dying world, was it?”

Silence still dragged on from the other party then Daniel started nodding, and humming thoughtfully.

“Mm-hmm… tsk… yeeeaaaaah, none of you are leaving here alive.”

_BANG!_

The talking Tevinter just drop-dead right there, and then there was chaos. One mage started yelling out the spell word, but nothing happened. Mahanon looked and saw that Adrian had successfully disabled the bomb before he fainted, now leaving the controlled body. The mages turned and they were about to fire at the explosives in order to trigger it themselves, but then one of Signum agents with Daniel—the one with the braids—held his hand out and blue mist started leaving the mages’ bodies and into him. They were now having a difficult time casting spells as they stood there, bewildered and wondering what the young man had done to them. Meanwhile, the mercenaries attacked them and that’s when these loud horn noises blared as these horse-less wagons came through from the bushes. Mahanon recognized that some of them riding these horse-less wagons were the mercenaries from the Valo-Kas Company.

What happened next was something Mahanon didn’t expect. Sudoku just went right up to the cages, grabbing the bars then she screamed and bent the bars wide enough for them to get out. He and his clanmates were gaping as she jumped out first and decked the slaver merc coming at her with a sword. Her fist connected to his helmet face—breaking the metal and possibly even his face. So much for protection.

Mahanon could hear Arnav yelling ‘Wonder woman is out!’

He wasn’t sure what that meant, but they were getting out now. He followed out, urging his family to follow and Sudoku went to open up the other cage, easily prying the door off its hinges.

“This way!” Another Signum agent—a woman with blonde hair—gestured them to follow and they did as they went around the horse-less wagons. They saw Adrian and then they followed him to an open field away from the fighting, but not too far away. Some of the elves were injured, and the woman with blonde hair started healing them. She merely touched them with her hand glowing and instantly all their wounds and ailments were healed.

Mahanon didn’t stand there for long as he went back into the fighting. Sudoku called for him, but he didn’t listen as he kept going.

When he got back there though, the fight was already over. The enemies were dead and they lost none on their side. Daniel looked over to see his friend had returned.

“Yo, Mahanon. You need to get Celene to look at you. You are kind of bleeding.”

“Is it true?” Mahanon demanded, now that the secret was out. Daniel cringed a bit and he turned to tell him, but then the elf noticed the Tevinter that was shot—he was moving. His hand raised and he had a fireball in his hand.

“Danny! Watch out!”

Danny turned, but the mage fired at him, and Lavellan was a little too far away to get him away from harm. The fireball hit him…but then it didn’t. It hit an invisible wall in front of Danny and it vanished. The mage was stunned—everyone excluding the Signum agents were stunned.

Mahanon was gaping then his lips pursed tightly. “…I knew it! It is true!” He said.

Daniel blinked. “You knew what?”

“I _knew_ you were immune to magic!!” Mahanon said accusingly.

Daniel stood there dumbfounded, not really expecting that accusation.

 

 

> _“DANNY!!” It was too late._
> 
> _The whip hit him… but then it ricocheted back._
> 
> _Mahanon blinked as the lightning whip bounced off of Danny, who seemed unaffected, and the whip dissipated, also confounding the Pride demon._
> 
> _Daniel got to him and pulled him through the door, getting to safety._
> 
> _“What—It hit you—”_
> 
> _“No, it didn’t.” Daniel quickly interrupted. “It missed. It totally missed me. We need to keep moving.”_
> 
> _“But I saw—”_
> 
> _The wall behind them crumbled when a giant hand forced its way in to find them._
> 
> _“MOVE!”_

“You made me think I was seeing things, you bastard!” Mahanon went right up to him and punched him hard at the arm.

Daniel flinched. “Well shit man! You’re welcome! Damn so salty!”

Mahanon rolled his eyes. “Thank you! …sigh...No… Really, Danny. Thank you.” His words were sincerer now.

Danny nodded to him. “…anytime.”

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.

It was dawn and they burying every elf that had fallen from the hands of that crazy fucking Tevinter. Daniel looked over to count… less than half of the clan were alive. This was massacre and this was all his fault. Signum’s fault. The Tevinter bastards got curious and they used the Lavellan as bait. Right now, he was discussing his _idea_ with his fellows, and after much deliberation, they decided it was the best course. The Lavellan clan already knew and they trusted them. They were backing Danny’s idea a hundred percent, because they owe it to the Lavellan clan.

When the burial was over, Danny approached the Lavellan’s and he could hear them conversing…

“Should we go to the other clans for shelter?” Ellana asked.

“We would be too much of a burden.” Deshanna solemnly spoke. “We may be few than what we were once, but still too many for any other clan to shelter us.”

“We have no caravans, no supplies, we won’t have enough time to make tents by a day’s end…” Tamnar spoke. “…though we can make a makeshift shelter.”

Lesas suggested, “I can start hunting, and the rest can gather.”

Mahanon sighed. “We still need to find a better place, preferably far from here.”

“Wanna come home with us?” Danny interrupted them and every pointy ear elf turned to him. “…We have food. Water. Shelter.”

“We can’t ask anymore from you,” Deshanna declined politely, waving her hand. “It is too much.”

“No… this is our fault. We got you involved… and we can’t just let you all go.”

Lesas glared at him now. “So, what? Are we prisoners now to you? Because we know your secret?”

Daniel flinched. “What? No-!”

“Are you going to kill us if we walk out of here? You told the Tevinter—when he said that you all were from another world—you told him that none of them were getting out of alive! Does that include us?!” Lesas demanded.

“Of course not!” Mahanon interceded this time, turning on Lesas. “Danny would never do that to us… but why do you want to help us, Danny? …I mean, you told me your community is reclusive. Would they even let us in? I mean, the world views us as savage elves in the wilds.”

Danny shook his head. “But we don’t! That shit doesn’t matter to us, Mahanon, you know that! You elves are still people, and you are people that are in need of help..!”

“And _we_ want to help.” Sudoku spoke as she strode right up next to Danny. Arnav and Adrian both soon followed.

“…come with us.” Danny asked, one more time. Mahanon and his family all looked at each other. Should they go? What choice did they have? At the moment they couldn’t stand on their feet, and it would be quite a struggle?

Should they follow?

A few moments more, and they gave Signum their answer.

.

.

.

> _Dr. Nguyen,_
> 
> _The six survivors of the incident that had labeled you as a traitor had proven quite to be a successful experiment! Commander Soto and Director Hudson should have given you a Noble Peace Award for your greatest achievement. This only means that their shards must be growing stronger as time passes, or as they keep using their powers._
> 
> _Your daughter, Sudoku, can call upon an enormous strength. She had to will it in order to lift a truck that weighs a ton._
> 
> _As for Arnav, it took a while to figure out what his ability is, but he can see people in different colors or fabrics as he described it. Mages were covered more in a green sheer-like mist while templars had a velvet blue. His sight helps in battle._
> 
> _Adrian is more complex since we don’t have equipment that could track astral or paranormal activities, so we usually run a demonstration of his powers: possession and perhaps a bit of poltergeist. He said being a poltergeist was a bit more difficult._
> 
> _Roje’s power was harder to detect until they came across some mages. He can control the lyrium gauge that they have—their mana of using magic. He can basically stop them from using it, or give them more, maximizing their power._
> 
> _Celene is the most useful and desirable with her ability to cure and heal almost anything, including cancer. However, the blight remains to be incurable. I profess it is worse than cancer—perhaps more like the crawlers back on planet earth. A disease that could not be purged._
> 
> _Lastly, there is Daniel. His ability had to be the most mindboggling. He is immune to all sort of magic, even the potions. I’m sure you know that every herb has some sort of ‘magical’ trait into them, but Daniel doesn’t feel its effects. Even Celene cannot heal him, nor Roje can feel any lyrium from him. We even tested out if Sudoku can lift him with her abnormal strength, but no effect. He is immune to her as well. I will continue to study him, so long as my identity is still safely secured._
> 
> _I do hope to hear from you soon, Dr. Nguyen, of your other more versatile experiments out there in Thedas._
> 
> _Sincerely,_
> 
> _XXXXXXXXX_

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.

.


	10. Partha-Gat Salroka

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.

.

Daniel watched Mahanon gaping at the sight before him.

The elf’s jaw dropped just like how Anders was when he was first introduced to the city of Signum. Now the elf understood why Signum was kept a secret, because it was living proof that these humans were definitely _not_ from around here. They were from another world.

Before they had arrived, Daniel had texted Mrs. Lugue ahead of time. When they had gotten there, security guards had let them in and the Civil Liberties group had already arranged some tents and beds for the Lavellan clan _and_ for the Valo-Kas Mercenary group. They’ve already seen the jeeps, the guns, the technology—so why not everything else? Both parties were shocked and awestruck as they were led away to the resting area.

It had been an hour now as the elves were given warm breakfast food: pancakes, eggs, and bacon. He hoped it gave just a bit of joy, knowing that they had lost a lot of good people in the Lavellan clan: friends and relatives.

“…Hey…Mahanon… I’m sorry about your clan…”

Mahanon finally pulled away from the sight before him as he turned to Daniel. “…It wasn’t your fault. It was some Vint’s fault.”

“I’m still sorry… is…well, is your sister okay?”

“My sister?”

“Ellana… Or you guys are not related?”

Mahanon let out a weak chuckle. “…I was adopted, Daniel. I came from another clan, but Lavellan _is_ my family, and though we are not related, I suppose I would consider Ellana as a sister now… It… It will take a while. There were many that I will miss. Like Wyrran… If he was here, he’d be asking a lot of questions. He’s quite the inquisitive little kid. He’ll be following you humans around asking how this works or that.”

“That’s fair.” Daniel responded as he looked over to see some of the civil liberties group trying to converse with the elves. “My people are already asking about your ears. Thank goodness you all understand that they’ve never seen an elf before, let alone a bunch of them. I mean you guys are famous in the lore.”

“Famous in the lore?” Mahanon questioned.

“Well, when you’re up for it, maybe tomorrow or the next day, we’ll show you about Tolkien’s series, _Lord of the Rings_. There’s an elf in that story that everyone likes.”

“Is this about an elf named Legalos?” Mahanon inquired. “Arnav kept calling Lesas, _Legolas_.”

Daniel snorted. “Yeah. Exactly like that. And don’t worry he’s a BAMF.”

“...Baahmmf?”

“B.A.M.F. Badass motherfucker.” He grinned.

Mahanon shook his head at him. “You Signum have too many inside jokes and references that I could hardly keep up.”

Daniel laughed quietly at that and then soon one of his own people came up to him, passing on a message that Commander Soto needed to see him, and perhaps also to bring along the leader of Clan Lavellan.

There was no doubt that he was in absolute trouble.

When they arrived at the office, they had Keeper Deshanna wait outside while Danny went in alone first. Nothing could describe how furious Director Hudson was as he began berating Danny yet again for another reckless decision. As for his father, Commander Soto was quiet though he was looking sternly at his son.

“You have broken the third most important rule here in Signum! Again!”

The rules…

That’s when it clicked.

“That’s right! ...That’s right, I did!” Danny changed his tone as he took a step forward. “Just like you guys did!”

Both of them were stunned, and Adam had to inquire. “Like what, son?”

“The trading! And then helping our contacts in the Free Marcher cities! The darkspawn—Darkspawns are native here too, you know, and from what I hear, they used to be people. Number three rule has _always_ been broken. _Do not get involved in any problems. Look after only Earth citizens_ … Including me, we break that rule all the damn time.”

He paused a moment, letting those words sink in, before continuing, “So, what exactly was the point of these three rules anyway, dad? They’re impeding the progress of integrating in Thedas.”

Adam nodded, understanding now. Then he said, “Yes… that is exactly what those three rules are for.”

Danny was stumped. “…I…Why? What?”

That was absolutely so not what he was expecting, and Director Hudson was rolling his eyes at him.

“Those three rules are there to impede the integration in Thedas. It is to ensure that we don’t collide with the world—at least not too fast.” His father started to explain. “That’s why it has taken all these years to even trade with the other Free Marcher cities, and now recently, we’re trading with one vendor all the way from Orlais. And now, after contact with some Dalish clans and Lavellan clan has been with us the longest, they’re now under our protection until they are better again… It wasn’t before where they first find us suspicious, but it is now today where they placed their trust on you. Do you understand, son?”

“…Time…” Danny realized. “Time to integrate slowly… time to know who you trust and who to place trust…”

And his father smiled. “Yes… we know for sure the Lavellan clan wouldn’t go running off and telling the whole world about us… because unlike a year ago, we wouldn’t have trusted them… but now we do.”

Director Hudson was quiet this time, though he seemed to be on board with the Commander. Daniel never thought of it that way until now. Was that why then? Just slow…not too fast, slow. He understood why though. As the dead Tevinter mage have said, they were people not from this world with technology and weapons far advanced that they could take over the world in an instant if they wanted to…. But they don’t want to—they want to get along with their neighbors. They all want Thedas as their new home, and no doubt, the people of Signum would also want to go outside and see the outside world.

“…So… am I still in trouble?” Daniel inquired.

Both Hudson and Adam answered, “Yes.”

“ _What?!_ But you just said--”

“You’re in trouble again for not reporting to us first and making a decision without deliberation of your higher authorities even though you could have contact us through a phone.” Adam pointed out. “…And you only contacted Mrs. Lugue.”

“Ahh…hahaha…ha….” Danny laughed sheepishly at that. Right. Honestly, he did that because he didn’t want his father or Director Hudson to say no because of the rules. He didn’t think they would possibly say yes.

Adam smiled. “You’re grounded for five days. No outside missions. You make sure the Lavellan clan feel welcomed here, okay?”

Eh… that’s not so bad.

“Yes sir!” Daniel saluted.

“Bring in the representative of the Lavellan Clan inside, and she and I will have a chat on the status of their protection in exchange for their services in poultice making and herbology.”

Daniel left and went out to explain just a bit with Keeper Deshanna, before letting her go in by herself, knowing she’ll be okay. He had assured her that things will be fine.

…Everything was going to be okay.

In the end, Keeper Deshanna was their official Dalish Advisor and Clan Lavellan was given sanctuary in Signum.

.

.

.

Six months later…

.

.

.

“Come on, Mahanon! Lesas! Pick up the pace!” Daniel barked at them.

“Pant! Pant! I’m gonna kill you…! Haa!” Lesas yelled back.

Daniel, Lesas, and Mahanon were all attached with one rope tied to their waists, keeping them together as they ran. Daniel, of course, was in the lead as he jogged with the two elves. They were at the 20-minute mark, and almost finishing the 5k morning. Joining them on their run was Roje, acting as a second supporter.

Danny kept barking, “Come on! You got to at least beat your last time! Don’t stop!”

“Com one, hurry up brothers! Mahanon, you want those barbecue ribs, don’t you? Those your fav right?” Roje called out in between pants. Mahanon shook his head at that silliness, grunting as he did pick up the pace, pulling Lesas, making him go faster as well. Danny changed his pace to match theirs. He didn’t want to drag them too hard; they might trip.

When it was over, both elves collapsed on a patch of grass from the exhaustion.

“Oh, look at the time. 21:42.” Roje stated as he looked at Danny’s wristwatch.

Danny nodded, grinning at that, feeling proud of his fellow new agents. “Yeah. That’s four minutes less than your time two days ago. Great job you two.”

He got only tired groans in response.

Six months had passed since Clan Lavellan was accepted into Signum as an ally. When Lavellan refused to accept any kind of help without some sort of repayment for everything Signum was giving them, they started offering them jobs that, with training, they can handle like the Greenhouse where they grow many elf roots and other herbs abundantly.

One day when Mahanon asked if he could join Sudoku on her mission, she told him she can’t now that he and his clan is part of Signum temporarily as an ally, there are rules to be followed. This certain mission required only official agent, and he needed to be an agent so that his safety is ensured. Mahanon and even Lesas decided to join the agent program. With them being at their late 20s (Danny was shocked to find out Mahanon was older), they made them go through fast-paced program. Every day, they pushed them to their limits. Now they could almost do the regime that Danny and the others could do albeit it took time. Of course, they learned more than just that.

As they were still resting, Danny’s phone beeped. He picked it up and checked.

> ARNAV: The Valo-Kas and I have delivered Harrowmont and his family safely. They are waiting at the docking area.

Ah. They were a day early, but that’s no trouble. He’ll contact his father, knowing the Commander wanted to see the dwarf himself. The people of Signum were getting psyched, knowing they were going to meet more dwarves.

The Cadash had been quite the amiable supplier of lyrium, granted they were the only supplier that Signum could rely on. Then, out of the blue, they said they would deliver a free shipment of lyrium at no cost provided that they do one little favor. They accept a few dwarves into their city for their safety—the dwarves’ safety. There were at least ten of them, but that wasn’t the problem. This had to do with politics and such. When the name Harrowmont was mentioned, Mahanon had to explain to them.  Around 9:32, King Bhelen of Orzammar had ordered execution of every family member of Harrowmont. Renvil Harrowmont is the last known survivor. His father was going to refuse because it would draw Signum attention if the Carta found out that they were hiding Harrowmont…until they found out more that the man, Renvil, has a wife and two daughters.

The Commander accepted the terms, knowing it would be morally wrong to shut them out.

Danny was at his father’s doorstep of his flat penthouse. He used the keycard hidden under the rug and let himself in.

“Hey, old man! You awake yet? I know it’s a Sunday, but…” He trailed off when he realized there was a guest. His father was there at the kitchen, plating breakfast that he had just cooked and across from him was Keeper Deshanna. A bit embarrassed now as she was wearing his father’s clothes and it was lose on her, though there was some fear in her eyes.

Danny gaped for a few moments.

Adam glared at his son. “Danny, have you forgotten how to knock?”

“Oh. My. God. _I knew it!_ ” Danny won the bet against Arnav. He knew that his father was dating Deshanna.

He and the Keeper got along enough that he could call her his second aunt, next to Dr. Belle. The elven woman was nice and caring—no wonder she was chosen as the keeper. Around her, he couldn’t really curse or say bad words, especially since children are always around her, but when she’s by herself, she can curse. Lightly though, not like a sailor, but like suitable. She’s an extremely caring, motherly person, and even Mahanon would consider her as a mother.

“Hey, Deshanna, does that make you my mom? And Mahanon my brother?” Danny asked, and that made her laugh, though she sounded sort of relieved.

“What do you want, son?” His father pressed on, wanting him to leave really.

“Oh. Harrowmont arrived a day early. Thought you should know.”

“I’ll meet them in half an hour. Do you mind showing him, his family and his retainers on where they’re staying?”

“Yes, sir.” Danny kept grinning and not leaving.

“Get out.” His father finally ordered and Danny left laughing along with Deshanna who was giggling a bit.

As he was ordered, he went to go and see this Renvil Harrowmont at the docking area.

The docking area was like a parking lot where all the jeeps had settled—no longer carrying dusts as they were used now again to tow in the caravan wagons for three months. They added more soldiers with them, dressed as mercenaries, to protect the caravan with the jeeps. Signum using jeeps was garnering attention from far across the Free Marches with the sole purpose of expanding their trade by spreading their reputation.

Daniel had witnessed their reactions. It was like ‘What in the maker is that?’ ‘that thing, is it demonic? Is it magic?’ ‘Look what those Signum people have brought! An astonishing wagon with no horse!’

Adrian and Sudoku were both currently in Kirkwall to purchase a shipyard just for their trade with Orlais and hopefully for Ferelden as well. There is no doubt that they were going to get that shipyard, and the two were due to return in less than two days on lyrium-operated vehicles.

When Danny arrived at the docking area, there were human kids there that had surrounded the group of Dwarves and Arnav. Those kids were wearing uniform jumpsuits—same ones that he wore when he was a kid. They were in the elementary academy and seeing the letter and number on the back, they were Class-E2 V. The roman numeral V meant that they were in the fifth grade. …Although, wasn’t it Sunday? Ah well, he did it too when he was little. He just gathered his team one day in their uniforms to do some sort of made-up adventure. There wasn’t a lot to do growing up when everyone was actually sick of the same video games over and over. That, and there was that rule that they couldn’t go outside of the facility because they would die.

However, this was Thedas now, and the kids still can’t go outside to explore Thedas—at least not without field trip permission, parents as chaperones, and lots of soldiers accompanying them for a nature walk for the day and then returning before 3:00 pm.

Danny got closer and closer, then he could hear the kids talking.

“Wow, I’m as tall as you.”  A little girl with pig tails said.

“Look, I’m taller!” Another boy gestured with his hand, showing the height difference.

“Obviously I’m bigger than you all and I’m an adult!” The gruffy dwarven retainer with this long beard and braids exclaimed, puffing out his chest. “And I can carry this weapon!”

The dwarf demonstrated as he lifted this giant Warhammer that was twice his size, and the kids gaped in awe before clapping like it was a puppet show on stage.

Arnav was there and he was standing next to a dwarf with a wife beside him. Their two half-their-size daughters were talking with other kids twice their height, but it all seemed friendly chatting.

Daniel approached Harrowmont. “Hello. You must be Renvil Harrowmont. I’m Daniel Soto. Thanks for being understanding with people here. Most of the city have never seen a dwarf, so don’t mind the looks too much.” He assured him and warned him as he held his hand out.

Renvil reached out and took his hand to shake it. “Yes, I’ve been informed by this agent here, Arnav, and the Valo-Kas Mercenaries were also quite the fine company… I must say I can’t…describe how shocked I am… humans living in our ancestors’ home… How and why?”

“Yeeaah… the why part is harder to explain, and the how is that we cleared out the darkspawn easily, and made this our home since, you know, it was abandoned.” Danny stressed that word. There was this problem too. Dwarves that might want to reclaim their stolen property but... “I know like this thaig was stolen by darkspawn but--… well, I can’t really explain. The thing is this isn’t a thaig anymore.”

“I’ll say…” His wife spoke this time. “Andraste’s tits, how did you people build those tall buildings? Are those tall windows inside the walls? How is that structurally sound? …This is all amazing.” She summed it up.

“Well, I’m sure, my father—Commander Adam Soto will explain more about it to you. He will meet you later,” He told them as he gestured. “Please follow me, I’ll take you, your family, and your retainers of the place you’ll temporarily be staying.”

With that, the kids of Class-E2 V bid them goodbye and promised to play with Rivia and Narvia later. At least the dwarven daughters were making friends here. They’ll settle in okay here.

Since the incident with Clan Lavellan, a project was initiated by the Civil Liberties Group to build some emergency empty houses, funded by Signum tax paying money, in case they had to take in anymore Thedosians that were in crisis. Mostly everyone voted yes. For more than 700 people living here in Thedas, they all knew suffering. There were still people here that had lingering feeling of Earth’s sufferings. Danny though that supposedly if one experienced the harshest that life has given them, they become a little kinder to ease the suffering for another. Thus, they built tenements—it was like an apartment building with mostly studio rooms, but not shoebox size.

When Daniel dropped them off with the hired caretaker of the house, who will give them the tour and a tutorial of the bathroom, Setha (Renvil’s wife) grabbed Daniel’s arm, stopping him from leaving and said to him,

“ _Partha-Gat Salroka_.”

Daniel blinked. “…Um. Pardon, I do not understand the term.”

“The name of this thaig. Partha-gat Salroka… _Peace unto Friend_ is what it meant.”

“…Huh… Thank you… I will remember that. Again, Welcome to Signum.”

Daniel left with Arnav, feeling a little shaken after learning the name.

“Whoa…” Danny breathed out.

“Right?” Arnav knew that feeling.

They didn’t think much about this thaig, except that it had history, and Signum tried its best to preserve most of the architecture and some important documents, relics, etc. Not much was known because of the darkspawn desecrating this place. Also, this place was a lot bigger than it looked. There were more floors underground that was leading down to a vast cavern of a whole other city, but of course, they closed that off due to the Darkspawn infestation. They had more pressing matters to attend to, such as integrating with Thedas.

Still knowing this Thaig’s name, Partha-Gat Salroka, it sounded pretty cool.

.

Later on, that night, Tamnar, a few other elves, and three signum soldiers arrived back at Signum. An important report was given in the meeting room as Daniel and Mahanon were present. Five days ago, Tamnar had went to visit the other clans during the meeting of Arlathan. They had informed them of their fates. Clan Lavellan was nearly desecrated if not for the involvement of Signum, and they had their own district now in Signum. A Lavellan district, because they didn’t want to separate living in different places. Architectures built houses with roofs that mimicked the aravel sails of the Dalish. They live in amazing houses built by volunteers and the elves themselves. Tamnar explained it was nothing like an alienage, not when the Lavellan district wasn’t walled off and they were very much welcomed by the people of Signum.

The Dalish clans found that hard to believe and in order to prove that Lavellan was still worthy of being called a Dalish clan, a quest has been given upon them to complete.

“So… they want us to go to the Conclave?” Mahanon gaped a bit. “To spy on the meeting and then what?”

“Return and report to us.” Tamnar answered. “Then we tell the rest of the Dalish clans. Whatever the response is, the Dalish wanted to decide whether or not they should band together to protect each other, or continue on with life and treat these attacks as every day nuisance.”

Mahanon scoffed at that while Daniel and the Commander just stared at them in confusion. The elf soon noticed and began to explain briefly about the conclave and its importance. It took a while, but the two began to understand sort of.

“So, like, this priestess---this Divine is supposed to tie up all loose ends and end the Mage and Templar War?” Danny asked.

“That’s the latter.” Mahanon affirmed.

“And… if she fails?”

“Well, as you Signum people say, All _Hell_ will break lose.”

“…Nicely put! You’re getting the references!” Danny said proudly and Mahanon smiled.

Adam cleared his throat to get the twos’ attention. He reminded them, “Remember. This is spy work so do be mindful on being extremely discreet and hide your guns. Do not use them unless necessary… Going to this Conclave… I’d rather that Signum isn’t involve of such a thing, no matter its decision… but as Tamnar said, you two are only there to spy. Understand? Don't start any trouble.”

“Yes sir.” Both of them answered.

“…Dismissed.” He told them and the two were heading out. Just as they did, Danny could hear the topic changing as his father asked Tamnar, “Now, Tamnar, what was it that you needed to discuss with me?”

And Tamnar said, “Ohh, I just heard that you fancy a certain Dalish Advisor.”

The door closed behind them just in time for Danny to cover his snort. Mahanon’s eyes were wide, looking back at the office as they were hurrying down the hall.

“Wait, what??” He demanded what Tamnar meant because it seemed like Danny knew what it was about.

“I’ll tell you later.” Danny promised.

Tomorrow, they were leaving to get to the Conclave. It was going to be a long journey and Danny was excited to explore a whole new land—this land called _Ferelden_ —little did he know that when they get there, everything was going to change.

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	11. Hell Did Break Loose

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_Holy shit._

_Oh fuck._

_What the fuck do I do?_

Those were the thoughts of a panicking Daniel as he paced back and forth out in the snow as people were running around in terror and soldiers were assembling out of nowhere.

_This can’t be happening!_

He thought countlessly in his head of that same thought, hoping and even praying to a God that he didn’t believe, pleading for— _THAT DID NOT JUST HAPPEN!!_

Daniel took deep breaths for a few moments before slowly turning around to see…

Yup. The Temple of Sacred Ashes had just blown up and there was a fucking green hole in the sky swirling like a storm.

Jesus… He supposed that when Mahanon said ‘all Hell will break lose’, he really meant _hell_.

It took them a week to get here to Haven. They had left Signum with one of the jeeps and they had it transported overseas with a trusted captain that Cadash had recommended. With that, they used unpaved roads to get to Haven, and then they parked the jeep just two miles away from their destination and hid it with camouflage and stuff. It will be alright.

Then, on the way here to Haven, Mahanon insisted in going in alone because he could dress up and pass up as a servant while Daniel… even if he was in a disguise, he would stand out way too much. So, for the success of the mission, Daniel decided to just stay in Haven and maybe gather the opinions of other people. Everyone of course was all hoping for the Divine to change things around…

And then BOOM!

Holy fucking shit fucks…

What was he going to tell Sudoku? Or his family? Shit!

Danny decided that he needed to see the destruction for himself to know it to be real. He needed to be sure that this wasn’t some sort of dream---and really it wasn’t it was just… The reality still hadn’t set in. He didn’t want to think it. Mahanon couldn’t be gone.

So, he hiked alone up the mountain to see the devastation.

When he arrived at the top of main site of explosion, he was baffled. It reminded him of the nuclear war pictures. Dead bodies frozen in flames, exactly like this gruesome scene before him.

His mind was starting to think that it was definitely impossible for Mahanon to survive this.

Among the dead, there were these… mini portals—these _tears_ in the area. At first, Daniel thought nothing of those tears until he saw  a bald elf approach towards one of these strange phenomena.  The elf was reaching out to it with his palm first like trying to make a connection—trying to control it. Instead, it blasted out a lightning and in an instant, there were these spirits in the area that quickly deformed into terrifying creatures. Seeing the fear in the elf’s face meant that this was not intended. He started fighting them as these creatures ganged up on him.

Of course, Daniel couldn’t just let him be.

He charged right up as this elf made this barrier around him to protect himself from the energy fiery balls hitting him. Then, he thrust his sword from the back of the enemy, and the spirit demon cried out before dissipating into nothing. Its essence retreating into the rift. He had caught the attention of the other enemies but at least the elf would see him as an ally in this fight.

One tried to hit him with a fire ball and Danny saw it coming as he put his arm as a shield. He had a shield arm attached to his left forearm. Though he could see that fire ball didn’t even hit his shield as it just faded right before—because he was immune to magic and all. Though hopefully, from where the elf was facing him, it must have looked like it did hit his shield…hopefully. To remain safe, Danny just kept dodging the energy attacks as he strived to strike down every of the demon with the elf’s help. When the area was momentarily cleared, the elf’s barrier went down.

“Thank you. Your assistance was needed.” He said. “I am Solas.”

“Yo! Name’s Daniel. Now what did you to that… thing? What is that _thing_ exactly?”

This Solas raised a brow at him, probably he never heard of ‘yo’ before but he pressed on to answer, “That thing you’re referring to is called a _rift_. A manifestation caused by the breach, and it seems to be spreading from one area to the next.”

Danny furrowed his brows. “Breach…? That’s what that big thing is called?”

“Yes, that—”

“That big thing is shitting out demons!”

Solas paused before carefully continuing on. “Yes, it is.”

“Okay…Oh holy shit… How do we close it?”

“I was attempting to close it--”

“Really? It looked like you were trying to open it, and you know, it sort of let out all these demons—”

“I will attempt again.” Solas insisted as he took a step towards the bleeding rift, holding his hand out.

“Oh boy…” Danny groaned as he took a few steps back when he felt he was ‘reacting’ to the magic that was enacted from the bald elf. With Anders being in the RML, there had been more… ‘experiments’ that he was begged to volunteer, and despite his unwillingness, he went anyway to participate. At this point, Danny was actually starting to feel out his own flexible invisible shield that always flared up whenever magic was nearby. Heck, it was flaring up when those demons were attacking him earlier, but he needed _not_ to get close in case he cancelled out Solas’ magic accidentally.

 Solas tried again, only unleashing another round of demons. More of them this time, and it took a bit longer to clear them out.

“Okay…pant…pant… any other bright ideas?” Danny asked, catching his breath. He was the one swinging his sword and dodging attacks while Solas was at a safe distance way to attack, making sure the enemy didn’t sneak up behind him.

“I must try again.” He insisted once more, adamantly, and even sounding a little infuriated.

“HA! No, you must _not_.” What was with this elf? It was like he _needed_ to end it. “Find another way. Waving at it isn’t working!”

For a moment, he did stop as he looked to be thinking hard. There was some sort of resolution or determination in his eyes… it almost seemed like the elf felt he was responsible in some way…. _Or_ it could be that Danny was over-evaluating the elf. A minute after, Solas stood up properly and went to try again, making Daniel roll his eyes and groan at that. He prepared himself. Well, here they go again.

Thankfully, they were interrupted… though he had hoped with less arrows pointed at them.

“ _HALT!_ ” A woman in a suit of armor had drawn her blade, aiming at them. Accompanying her were an entourage of soldiers with bow and arrows aimed at them. There were also some of them with swords and shields, ready to fight—one of them was a blond guy with this lion pauldron armor. Overall, they were a menacing group of people that had currently outnumbered both Danny and Solas.

Danny had his hands up. “Whoa, whoa, easy!”

“Under the order of the Chantry, we’ll be taking you as prisoners for the suspicions of causing the destruction of the Temple!” The guy with the lion pauldron stated.

“Yo! We were just trying to close this _rift_ —or at least, my friend here, _Solas_ , was just attempting to seal it!” Danny protested, and his words made them think twice though the weapons have not lowered.

“Rift?” The woman in armor inquired.

Solas answered, “That is what I’m calling it. It’s a tear of the veil that separates this world from the fade. The tear is caused by the breach. That massive, swirling rift is called a Breach.”

Before the woman in armor could ask anymore questions, Danny saw the breach explode once more like thunder and lightning before another rift started appearing out of nowhere behind the brigade. This time the rift was swirling out of control, and lightning shot out, summoning more bad spirits.

“Demons! _DEMONS!_ ” Danny pointed and thankfully the weapons were now pointing at the new foes in the battlefield.

These ones were a bit stronger as a few of them were at least 9 feet tall with long claws and long tails. It was like a creature that came from the nightmares of many, and it was definitely harder to kill. He saw one just disappear into a hole that appeared out of nowhere. Then a magical rift appeared just below the feet of the cluster brigade before the nightmare creature shot out from that hole and clawed at least three chantry soldiers.

Holy fuck. That was so bullshit.

Another one jump down into the hole and another hole appeared right below the warrior woman.

“Watch it!” Danny shouted as he dashed right over to her and he had his shield up when the woman aimed her shield at him to block him. He supposed she thought he was attacking her so with all his might to knock her over—he managed to knock her over and tackle her to the ground just before the nightmare popped right out.

It hissed, probably annoyed that it missed. Danny got back up on his knees first as the black-haired woman just realized what had happened. The nightmare creature was now standing so close to them. It raised a claw and brought it right down, but Danny held up his arm shield just in time. The claw scraped the paint off the arm shield, but the force knocked Danny back. Before the creature would continue, the guy with the lion pauldron was right behind the demon and he stabbed it in the back, dealing it a fatal blow.

“Thanks, man.” Danny easily said as he got up and looked towards the woman. “And sorry, I had to tackle you.”

She looked perplexed before she shook her head as the battle was still happening. More demons were coming out to play.

They took down the many demons in the area, and Solas attempted to close it. At first, it seemed like it was working. It was swirling and it seemed to be tying itself up to be fixed—when suddenly the breach exploded and so did the rift, popping out more demons.

Was it just him or was the breach getting bigger?

For now, they all retreated the field after seeing that there were no survivors.

Shit. That realization was sinking into Danny.

Mahanon was gone.

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Danny was in a room—an interrogation room to be precise. At least he wasn’t imprisoned or anything, but he’s been in that room for over an hour since they walk him in there. He knew interrogation techniques very well and he knew he did nothing wrong, so instead he took out his phone.

Only that he had no fucking clue what to say.

Holy shit, what does he tell Sudoku? Or his dad?

_Hey dad! The Conclave just blew up and Mahanon was right. All hell broke loose. Like really, there’s this big hole in the sky called the breach and it’s spitting out demons everywhere!_

Danny thumped his forehead on the desk—several more times. It had to be right there that the door opened, and two individuals walked in. Danny immediately hid the phone, though it was obvious they had seen it.  One of them was the woman in armor that he remembered was ‘Seeker Cassandra’, the Right hand of the Divine. He had heard of this lady before.

They brought him back his weapon and his shield that they confiscated: the arm shield and his tactical sword. The short tactical sword is a common thing in Signum—mostly used against the _crawlers_ back at Earth. They kept its popular style with its curved sharp edge at the end, and jagged edges near the grip, mostly for sawing.

“What did you have?” The hooded woman asked out of curiosity, though it seemed more like a threat that she will turn him inside and out if he didn’t fess up.

“Uhh… it’s a mirror.” Danny said as he took out his phone again, showing the black screen. “…A very bad mirror.”

They gave him a look that said they didn’t believe him, but said nothing of it.

The hooded lady—of who Danny had to guess was Sister Leliana, the left hand of the Divine—suddenly pointed out, “…You are from _Signum_.”

Danny stuttered, “I-I beg your pardon?”

“Your accent, your weapons, and even that device that you claim to be a bad mirror… You are those people called Signum.” Leliana explained and it seemed like she was no fool. She was highly certain of who Danny was and where he’s from. “You strange folks are the people that are trading with other Free Marcher cities on these odd vehicles you call a jeep… _and_ are living inside an abandoned thaig. Many people have heard about you, and even about taking in the last lineage of Harrowmont.”

Holy fuck… Holy… he was pretty fucking sure that his own people wouldn’t chat about their place, nor would they let anyone else follow them back into Signum. It only meant that it could be from the Valo-Kas Mercenary or the Cadash family spilling out their secrets… Then again, she wasn’t talking about any tall high-rising buildings, but only the jeeps that were now allowed to be used outside Thedas. Plus, it did seem pretty obvious that they were living inside an abandoned dwarven thaig with some dwarven ruins lying about.

Danny paused a moment to gather himself before he responded, “And I suppose you also know our goodwill reputation? Our meager donations to the Chantry in every Free Marcher city that we trade? As well as the good word of every noble merchant?”

Leliana nodded. “I am aware, yes. The question is what are you doing here? Alone? And so far from home?”

“…Hmmm… well, I’m not good at lying so I’ll just lay it out for you. A friend and I were sent here to spy on the Conclave and wait for the news of whether or not the Divine was able to tie up loose ends and stop the war.”

Cassandra raised a brow at him. “Really?”

“Yeah. Really. That’s basically it. I stayed here in Haven, while my friend—a Dalish—went to spy.” Danny confessed. Honestly, spying at the conclave seemed to be the least of their worries. “…When the Temple blew up, I had… I had to see it for myself… I had to find his body, but I guess there was nothing left except for unidentified, burning corpses, huh…?”

Danny let out a heavy sigh, bringing his head as he ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. “Shit… what am I going to tell his family…?” That question was mostly for himself. It still didn’t seem real that the elf was gone.

It was silent for a moment before they decided to change the pace of the questions.

“How did you know the apostate elf? Solas?” Cassandra asked.

Daniel blinked at that. “Oh him? I just met him today, you know? Saw him pulling at the rift and such, then demons pop out—I don’t think he planned that. He was outnumbered so I went to help him.”

She crossed her arms, perhaps thinking of what to make of it, so Danny continued, “I don’t think he did anything wrong, but trying to help, you know?”

“Why do you think we suspect him of anything wrong?” Leliana inquired.

He only shrugged. “Well, this world doesn’t naturally have good views of apostate mages, let alone anyone who is an elf… so, as the saying goes, never judge a book by its cover, right?”

His answer seemed to appease them, and maybe might have helped Solas out.

Thankfully, they didn’t ask him anymore questions as he went on his way with his equipment back. He supposed because he helped the Seeker in battle, he wasn’t in that much trouble, nor was he longer a suspect. Either way, he did answer truthfully. Maybe Cassandra brought in this Leliana as some sort of lie detector—he didn’t know, he hoped that he and his friends weren’t the only ones that had strange powers, right?

Ugh… Sudoku…. How was he going to tell her?

He wondered how soon would the news reach Signum. How will they react to hear that the Conclave in the Temple of Sacred Ashes had exploded?

He paced about in the cold winter air before stopping and just looking up at the swirling green breach—

Did it get bigger or something?

Danny reached out, measuring with his thumb and index finger—like with wayfinders in the movie Moana—it had its purpose as he noted the size of it and from where he stood.

“I know you, don’t I, kid?”

Danny turned and his eyes widened to see a familiar dwarven face.

“Yo! Varric!”

The disheveled looking dwarf with a few buttons down in this damn cold weather just smirked. “It is you! Daniel, right?”

“Yeah…” Well, there were some good things in life, even in this miserable time.

Varric invited him for a drink, and it was really chaotic in the tavern. Everyone was on edge that even little fights were starting. They managed to find a table in this mess and Varric ordered drinks and some food—on him. Danny figured Varric might have want to hear how Anders might be doing, though it doesn’t seem like a good setting with everyone so close and cramped here.

“So… I saw the Seeker walking you into the Chantry. Not a prisoner anymore?”

He shook his head. “Never was. They wanted questions since I was up there right after the place blew up.”

“What were you doing up there?”

“…Remember the elf I was with? The Dalish? …He… Gods, it doesn’t seem real, but he was there at the Conclave and…”

Varric understood the tone and the vibe, so he knew what had happened. “Damn… I’m sorry for your loss, kid.”

Danny sighed and he took the drink, maybe do that drinking and forgetting thing.

Jesus…

“Well! You wanted to know how Kristoff is doing right?” Danny asked.

And Varric smiled a bit. “Wouldn’t want to talk about another friend when yours had just passed.”

“It’s not your fault… I’ll find out the fucker who’s at fault, for now, let’s just…talk about Kristoff. What did you want to know?”

And Varric definitely had questions about Anders—uh Kristoff—and Danny kept it as vague as possible anything related of Signum and what Kristoff was teaching.

Kristoff had catch up quite fast in terms of science like biology, physics, etc. With a little more knowledge, he was now able to have an educational debate with Dr. Belle, and even won in some arguments. Not sure what they always talk about, so Danny stayed clear away from them when he could. Otherwise, Kristoff had fitted in well enough in signum. Like Mahanon, he was catching up to all the references and technology was now a necessity. Kristoff blamed Signum for making him lazy with all the convenience it had like the toilet most of all—though he definitely liked all the spoiling.

The chat didn’t last long. It felt more of an update than it was an enjoyable chat.

There was after all a giant hole in the sky.

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The next morning, Danny was there at the same spot and he measure with his hand again. It was quite early in the morning, but for him it was late. He was just tired and it felt wrong for once to do an exercise regime. He intended to go back up there again if this Solas was determined to close these rifts.

Speak of the devil…

Solas came up to him. “Sleep well?”

“Not really… you?”

“Well enough…even as the world seem like it’s ending.”

“Lucky you. We all need our beauty sleep even in this crisis… No joke. We’re fighting demons after all… You think you’ll be able to close it today?”

“I am willing to try the endeavor, even if I fail over and over. There has to be a way to close it.”

Daniel stared at him before saying, “There is no try. Do or do not.”

Solas turned to him questionably for the saying and Daniel answered with one word to explain everything. “Yoda.”

“…Would that be your Dalish friend that had passed?” Solas asked carefully.

“Hahaha! No… no, it was just someone else—Mahanon was his name… His clan and my people are close to one another.”

The elf’s interests peaked at that. “I was not aware that the Dalish made friends with outsiders.”

“We’re not like any outsiders.” Danny settled with that.

“Hmm, and where do you hail from, Daniel?”

“Signum. If you’ve heard about us.”

“I… I haven’t. Is it somewhere in the Free Marches?”

“Yes… Hey, Solas, are you Dalish or City elf? Or…?” Danny started asking the questions instead. Something about this felt like an interrogation as well, so he needed to make it even to consider this a conversation.

Solas decided to answer, “I’m neither Dalish or a City Elf. I’m merely an apostate mage and an elf.”

“And where did you hail from? Or have you always wandered about?”

“Nowadays, wandering has been the norm.”

“So, wandering here in Haven wasn’t your first choice?”

He chuckled dryly. “Not always a first choice... I had to see it for myself I suppose, and then the unfortunate event… The Breach.”

They looked up for a moment at the big rift in the sky that started to bring a storm again with thunder and lightning. They continued to stare at its deformity before the elf asked Danny a question, “What were you doing here before I interrupted you?”

“Oh! I was measuring the breach.” Daniel said cheerily before adding the words with a deadpanned look, “It got _bigger_ , Solas… If it keeps at it, more rifts will spread, meaning more demons will wreak havoc, and sooner or later, the whole world’s gonna end… How sure you could close this thing?”

And Danny never got an answer from Solas when the Seeker called them over.

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It had been weeks now since the Temple exploded, exactly three weeks and five days.

And they were losing the fight.

Danny had just watched a couple of soldiers, crying out, and then running away, abandoning the fight and deserting his fellow soldiers in the field. He shook his head as he focused on the endless demons before. They just keep coming and just as he predicted, many more tears were appearing—more _rifts_.

He saw Commander Cullen pinned down by a fear demon and so he finished off the spirit before him. He was still too far away, so he took out the pistol from his left ankle. He aimed and fired, shooting the fear creature to death.

There was another demon coming at him and he tried to fire at the greater shade, but blank. He was out of bullets.

“ARGH!” The shade knocked him down on the ground and he had his arm shield up when the thing started to claw at him.

Bolts fired and it killed the shade. He looked over to see Varric, nodding at him before firing again at another demon that was coming at him and Solas.

“Fall back!” Cullen finally gave the order as he stomped through the snow and over to Danny, helping him up to his feet.

Some of the soldiers were already running but some brave ones stayed with them to clear the field before they could make a run for it. The battle to get to the first rift was pointless. Solas had theorized that maybe if they could get to the breach and end that one first, it could stop everything. How, he wasn’t sure, but he had to try, and so now they were doing their best to get to there. Sadly, they couldn’t even take down some demons.

This was a failed attempt. They needed to retreat.

Then, suddenly, a rift blasted out of nowhere and this one was different as it also grabbed the other demons’ attention. There was a silhouette of a woman in that rift, glowing quite golden before a shadow over took it. The shadow was blurry at first before it came right of the rift, stumbling unto his feet.

Danny held his breath and he nearly dropped his weapon when he saw who exactly it was that staggered out of the rift.

Mahanon.

Ignoring Cullen’s orders, he ran right for the Dalish elf, and he slashed at every demon that got in his way, even if he got hurt himself. It took a few moments before the others followed him.

When he got to Mahanon, he dropped to his knees next to him and sure enough, it was the Dalish elf. It _is_ Mahanon. He placed his two fingers on the elf’s neck to feel a pulse… weak, but it was there. He looked him over ignoring the demons creeping up at him.

What is that green thing on his hand?

The demons that were coming up to him were then slain immediately. Cullen, Solas, Varric, and a couple of other soldiers were there with him.

Varric asked, “Is that… Isn’t that your friend, Danny?”

“…Yeah…” He breathed out.

A moment after, Danny put away his sword and he lifted Mahanon over on his shoulders, carrying him out like a fireman would to his buddy.

He let Commander Cullen lead the way back as they retreated, thankfully keeping the Dalish elf safe.

Mahanon was alive.

He was uncertain though if whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

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	12. Attempt to Close the Breach

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The winter was bitter cold, but Daniel could hardly feel it when he was quite pissed at the moment.

His friend, Mahanon, has just been charged by the Seeker for the destruction of the Conclave and the murder of the Divine.

‘Fuck you!’ Was his swift answer as he rounded towards the Seeker, and thankfully, Varric was pushing him back. “Are you kidding me?”

“Just as you told me, he stepped out of a rift. Solas claimed the magic on his hand is connected to the Breach in the sky!” She explained as she too rounded right at Danny and now Varric was being sandwiched. She added, “How can he not be responsible for this calamity?”

“Uhh, the fact that he is _my_ friend and he is innocent in all accounts? He has nothing to do with this!! Admit it, you’re making shit up!”

Their argument was stirring quite the attention as spectators gathered to listen. It was mostly back and forth with their own arguments thrown back at each other. Mahanon’s a Dalish elf, who doesn’t give a flying fuck to the chantry and its religion. Cassandra argued back that he is the only survivor and thus the only one who knew what could have happened.

Varric was still trying to break up the fight, “This isn’t really the place to be arguing, Seeker! Danny!”

Neither was listening to him of course.

“Perhaps he lied to you! Or… perhaps you’ve just been waiting for him to come back. Perhaps you both were in on this!”

Danny was now seeing red when Cassandra accused him of also being responsible as he took a step back, afraid he might just hit the Seeker—which was not something he would ever do, because one, he would never harm a woman, instead he would ask Sudoku to do it.  And two: he was sure that she would slay him right there and it would not help his case.

“Oh ho…HO! …Hahaha! You did _not_ just say that! I _bled_ on that battlefield with you _and_ your soldiers! There were many times where I was inches away from death just to get the damn rifts to close!”

“You couldn’t leave without him because you knew he was coming back!”

“Who could leave after seeing _THAT?!_ ” Danny demanded, gesturing to shithole up in the sky. “Oh, hold up. That’s right. The soldiers that deserted us on the field and ran home back to their mommies—nice recruiting, Seeker! Only humans, I see in your ranks!”

Cassandra snarled dangerously. “What are you insinuating?”

“Oh, come on! You don’t think I see the pattern? You’re a Seeker! Some sort of High rank above the Templar Order! You hate mages, I’m sure of it, because I’ve seen it many times of you threatening to kill Solas because he couldn’t close a rift—that he’s not really responsible for! He’s trying to help! And then I hear, you treated Varric like shit too, and he wasn’t even a prisoner to being with—because really, it’s not Varric you wanted, you wanted the Champion for some reason. And finally! My friend who miraculously survived the explosion is being charged for a murder he didn’t commit and he is an elf!”

She glared at him. “This has nothing to do with him being an elf—”

“Get off your high horse, Seeker! Nobody likes a _racist fuck!_ ”

It is rare for Daniel to get into one of his own tunnel-vision temper, meaning that once he is livid, he goes on a rant and just focuses on hurting the person with words and blaming him or her with everything even with things that weren’t true. He thought he had outgrown this after his last rant against his father almost six years ago, but here it was, resurfacing again: a bad-apple quality.

So, no one blamed Cassandra for what she did next.

She tightened her fist, locked her wrist, pulled back and socked Danny right across the face.

The attack knocked him back to the real world as he staggered a bit, grabbing his jaw. He could taste the blood where his teeth had cut his lips from the impact of her gauntlets. He was surprised himself that he was still standing on his feet because WOW that was… a punch.

He held a finger, motioning her to wait as he composed himself. “Wow, okay… shit… I deserved that.”

Daniel turned away to try and calm down, and since the heat cooldown, Varric took that time to actually chastise the Seeker. “Look, Seeker, pointing the finger on just about anyone isn’t helping the situation. You need to be a little more sensitive.”

She crossed her arms, satisfied from punching Danny. “I’m not blaming just about anyone, and you don’t get to question what I know. I know that this elf had stumbled out of a rift, and I know that he has to be involved in what happened.”

“Whether or not he’s involved, I believe our Dalish prisoner may help us yet.” Solas intruded out of nowhere, and they turned to him.

Daniel wiped the blood off his lip with his thumb. “Okay… what do you mean and how long have you been standing there?”

There was a hint of a smile in Solas’ expression as he explained, “Long enough to see the entire show, _and_ what I mean is that the magic on your friend’s left hand _might_ be able to interact with the rifts… and there’s a chance that he _might_ be able to close them.”

His speculative theory was enough to simmer down both the Seeker and Danny since now they have an objective.

“Is the prisoner awake?” Cassandra asked.

Solas nodded. “Soon. He appears to be waking up.”

“…We’ll go clear out the rift nearby. The one up the hill where the guard tower was,” Danny said as he turned to the Seeker, waiting for an okay from her part and she looked at him with a disbelief look. He continued, “Look, I know we’ve got some disagreements, but we have bigger _shit_ to deal with. Just don’t kill my friend. He has a fiancée you know, and they’re already talking about getting married—So could you, like, _not_ get him killed?”

Cassandra frowned at that, perhaps listening closely to him now and believing his words. “I will not kill him, not when there’s a chance he could close the rifts…and he better. Go… Not you.” She added to Varric as she walked away when she saw Leliana was there at the chantry waiting for her.

When they went through the doors, Danny turned to Varric. “Yes, you come. I need you in case demons get behind me or something.”

Varric grinned, shrugging his shoulders. “Well, I’m a free man as of the explosion, but I’ll come with you since you asked so nicely.”

“Thank you. I appreciate it. Coming Solas? Just don’t like…force the rift anymore.” Danny pleaded, because the more Solas seem to mess with the rift, it just brought out more demons.

Solas drawled out. “I will endeavor to bring less of them, such as you should endeavor to not anger the Seeker.”

The dwarf laughed now since she was out of ear shot as they made their way to the nearby rift. “Hahaha, did it hurt, Danny?”

“Yeah… I got hit with gauntlets, man.” Danny whined, rubbing his lip again. It still stung but he could endure it.

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“Quickly before more come through!” Solas cried out as he grabbed Mahanon’s wrist, leading him to the open rift. He held it out and something activated. Danny made sure to stay clear away when that happened. He watched in awe as this green lightning shot out from Mahanon’s marked hand and it connected to the rift. It started tying it up, like a fabric getting sown by an invisible needle. Once the sewn was tightened, a shockwave blasted out from it when it was sealed shut, no longer visible in the air.

“…Holy fucking shit fucks…” Danny expressed and Cassandra frowned at him for such foul language.

“What did you do?” The Dalish Hunter asked Solas.

“I did nothing. The credit is yours.”

“You mean this mark?”

“Whatever magic opened the breach in the sky also placed that mark upon your hand.” Solas then continued on explaining how the mark might be able to close the rifts that have opened in the Breach’s wake. Course, he had to add saying he was correct.

Mahanon was technically the key to our salvation, but before that…

Danny then grabbed the elf, wrapping an arm around his neck before he proceeded to rub his fist on his skull. “You asshole! How dare you almost die!”

Mahanon grunted as he now struggled, trying to get away from the human. “Ugh! Stop! _Fucking--_ ” He managed to elbow Danny and he managed to escape from his clutches. “You _Dick!_ ”

“ _Bitch!_ You pull that shit again, I’m gonna knock you dead before Sudoku comes after me!”

The others with them were shocked and a little aghast at the foul language they were using on each other, but Varric could see it though. These two were indefinitely close friends, maybe even brothers. He had seen Danny’s grief and how lost he was, and then how happy and surprised he was to find Mahanon alive.

Mahanon was about to fire back, but stopped, “How long was I… _dead?_ ” He asked, using that word loosely.

“Three weeks, and then out of nowhere today, you just come right out of a rift.” Daniel explained to him as he moved in, demanding, “What the hell happened?”

The Dalish paused, trying to recall, but couldn’t, “I… Danny, I don’t remember.”

Danny groaned at that. “Dude, it is _so_ not the time to have an amnesia. Did you hit your head or something?”

“Fight me, Danny.” Was the Dalish defiant response, using the classical immature earth phrase (Danny finds that he himself may be a bad influence to many Thedosians). Danny just gave the elf a deadpanned look before punching his shoulder amiably.

After their special friendly reunion that confounded the Thedosians around them, introductions were made before Cassandra told them that they were losing time and they needed to get going.

Mahanon had stumbled a couple of times, and Danny was there to grab him, keeping him steady. Danny could see that his friend was undoubtedly tired and drained. Whatever ordeal he went through in the fade, it was a blessing he didn’t remember anything but just spiders chasing after him. He heard the fade is like hell or something, with all spirits and such, though Anders explained some parts in the fade were not bad… but spiders chasing him did sound bad.

Still, Mahanon was not in good condition to make this sort of climb and he was sure the clothing he was given wasn’t enough to endure the harsh cold here. It was near 20 degrees. Where did Mahanon hid his Signum agent clothing? Did it burn in the Conclave?

When they got to an extremely thick frozen lake, they crossed lines with more demons. They finished those beasts easily with Cassandra on their side. He had to admit she’s a fierce fighter, and then there was Mahanon, who could never miss a target. Danny had to move out of the way before Solas could use a barrier protection on everyone. Mahanon knew why, but the others only knew it as Danny being afraid of magic.

After the demons were cleared out, Mahanon strayed off the path, going to the only intact house against the cliffside.

“Yo, where you going?” Danny asked as the Dalish was at the front door of the cabin.

“My belongings! I hid them here.” He went right inside without even waiting for the Seeker’s permission.

Of course, that seemed to be a problem for the Seeker.

“Oh no you don’t! Get back here!” Cassandra demanded as she was heading straight into the cabin, but, Danny got in front of the Seeker, stopping her.

“Move.” She ordered. Threateningly.

“Seeker, let him go. He’s not escaping or anything, and if he is—oof!” Danny grunted as her gauntlet fist struck him in the guts. He staggered back as she easily shoved him away. He cursed under his breath as she marched right up into the cabin.

Well, he tried to warn her.

“H-hey, close the door, it’s cold!” Danny heard Mahanon complain, then the Seeker slammed the door closed. Her face flushing red as she retreated, deciding to wait at the bottom of the stairs, next to Danny, who had recovered from the punch.

“…Saw anything good, Seeker?”

“Shut it.”

Solas smiled amusingly and Varric was brave enough to let out a chuckle.

A couple of minutes later, Mahanon emerged from the cabin, adorned in the outfitting of standard Signum agent clothing. It was quite similar to Danny’s clothing: matte black-painted tactical gear. Comfortable, fitting, and offered more protection, honestly. An arrow can’t notch itself in there if a bullet can’t penetrate it either. Plus, there was a thermal suit in it.

The elf carried with him a black, tactical compound bow. It had better leverage with the pulleys and cable and even the arrows were custom-made.

“What is that?” Varric was the first to question.

“A compound bow. I built it for him.” Danny stated, crossing his arms proudly. “…Does it outrank your Bianca?”

The dwarf scoffed. “Bianca is still the best.”

Cassandra still felt like Mahanon could run at any moment, and she had no doubt Danny would help him escape. “Well, now that you’re done, let’s keep moving.” She insisted.

Mahanon nodded. “Agreed, Seeker. I’m not going anywhere else, but to the rift, Seeker.” He seemed to sense the hidden hostility and mistrust.

His words calmed the Seeker down.

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.

“Holy fuck! AGAIN!? Again with the Pride!?” Danny ran out of its way when its whip was lashing about with electric current. It hit a lot of the soldiers, knocking more of them back. Cassandra had her shield that took on the powerful lash. Shit, and she stood her ground. Badass.

“Danny!” Mahanon called on him, pulling him roughly, to tell him. “You have to kill it!”

“What?”

“You could do what Sudoku did. Jump on top of that monster and drive its sword into its skull.”

“…Dude! It has a barrier. No one can pierce it—”

“Danny, you cancel magic, remember?” Mahanon harshly whispered, enough for only Danny to hear. After all, everyone else were too busy trying not to get killed by, not only by the pride, but the demons were popping out of nowhere from the rift.

“…Oh right… Be right back.” Danny ran out of the field, trying to get to higher levels, and in the meanwhile, Mahanon focused on the battle.

Now, Daniel wasn’t Sudoku. This was absolutely crazy, and he was for sure going to die—if not, then break some critically important bone structures. He might be rendered paralyze for all his life. However, at the moment, none of it mattered. There was a pride in the way of the rift, and others were having difficulty killing it. Of course, it was difficult to kill it. The thing was four times their sizes, bigger, stronger, and even possessed magic.

Thankfully, the world he lived in before had prepared him for the worst. A land of a desolate waste with crawlers and infected creatures that could roam about the toxic air? Not only that, but they have evolved into scarier looking creatures from the tiniest to the colossal.

The instructors in his childhood had prepared him for that, and even Dr. Nguyen was responsible for it.

So, Danny didn’t think twice when he found a good opportunity to leap off the highest ledge and landed right on the head of the pride. The pride noticed the weight, but it was a little too late as Danny raised his blade and stabbed it as hard as he could through the skull; the barrier on its skin broke. The pride roared as it started to thrash about, trying to grab Danny from off its head.

God damn it, Sudoku made this look easy, he thought as he forced the sword in deeper and with all his strength, he twisted the blade.

That stopped the pride dead from its tracks as it started to fall forwards, and everyone moved out of the way. Danny got ready and leaped off it once he was closer to the ground, before tucking and rolling, spreading out the force of impact so he wouldn’t hurt himself. He got back up immediately and turned to see the pride demon disappearing, and its dark essence returned to the rift, leaving the sword behind.

The first rift was now bleeding excessively and Mahanon took that opportunity to reach out and connect.

Danny went to pick up his sword and watched from a distance along with the others now that the demons in the area were cleared. They were all mesmerized by such a bright green light and then—BOOM!

A louder and harsher shockwave, knocked them all back when it exploded and it shot out an energy right towards the breach. It hit it, and a larger, stronger shockwave blasted out, knocking every person off their feet as they were sent flying.

Danny had tried to stand his ground, but Cassandra flew right into him and they both landed hard on the ground. The harsh winds still blowing against them as debris and dust blinded them.

When it was over, Danny groaned as there was a heavy weight upon him, crushing him. “…Cassandra…your armor is kind of heavy, could you please get off?”

Cassandra glared down at him and she purposely push off of him, her hand on his gut, to get up, and Danny only groaned out in pain. Well, shit. He supposed she was still mad at him for earlier. Danny sat up, but stopped seeing a hand reaching out to help him. He looked up to see it was Cassandra with a not-so-angry expression.

A moment after, he took her hand and allowed her to help him up his feet.

The battle was gruesome and the breach still hung in the sky but calm. It was still swirling but it wasn’t acting like some kind of tornado or hurricane. Mahanon had passed out again and the mark was still on his hand. Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy Danny thought.

As Solas was explaining how they needed more power to close the rift to appease the Seeker that was demanding answers from him, Danny checked on Mahanon’s vitals as some of the able soldiers ran to get help for the wounded.

The mark on his left handed started to flicker and die.

What?

Danny leaned in to listen and he waited…then his eyes widened as he realized. Immediately, he started taking off Mahanon’s protective vest and pulling up his shirt.

“What are you doing?” Leliana questioned aloud, catching everyone’s attention.

“He’s not breathing!” Danny exclaimed as he started doing heart compressions, placing his fist and hand, palm first, and started pumping and counting.

Everyone was soon alarmed as they gathered, though they wondered what Danny was doing. To Thedas logic, when someone was no longer breathing, it meant that they were dead, but Danny knew his friend wasn’t dead yet, but he was dying if he didn’t act fast.

“What are you doing, kid?” Varric asked as he watched in a confused awe. The way how desperate Danny acted, they didn’t dare stop him.

“Bringing him back to life! …Solas! I need you to charge an electric current through your hands!” He spoke through between huffs and puffs as he continued the heart compressions incessantly, not stopping, for if he stopped, he might actually lose him this time.

Solas knelt down. He had seen Danny do healer’s work, like using stitches when there weren’t any health potions to spare. Also, especially when Danny got hurt himself and he refused to take any health potions, and he just patched himself up, ignoring the pain. He started doing so with his hands, electricity running through, even though he almost questioned such strange instructions.

“How much?” He inquired.

“Just enough to shock a person, like when you shocked that soldier that tried to punch you because you called him _unscrupulous_.” Danny remarked, but he didn’t look up as he kept watching Mahanon’s face.

Solas recalled that one time as he charged his hands up a bit more, waiting for more instructions.

After two minutes, Danny told him, “With your hands charged, place it on Mahanon’s chest when I say so and then pull back immediately. Got it?”

“Understood.”

“On 3! Ready? 1, 2,3…!” Danny pulled away and Solas immediately placed his hands on his chest, sending a shocking electric current before pulling back. They watched his body jolt but nothing yet and Danny returned to heart compressions.

“…26, 27, 28, 29, 30! Again!” He pulled back and Solas did it once more.

Mahanon jolted but nothing yet.

They did it again, and the third time is the charm as Danny finished counting to thirty and Solas shocked Mahanon again…

He gasped a short breath of air, his chest heaving as he was moving again. Danny breathe out a huge sigh of relief meanwhile everyone around them was speechless. The guy from Signum had brought back a person to life from pumping his chest and then shocking him. How? Even Solas was blown away that such unheard and crude methods succeeded. Were all people from Signum like Danny?

Help soon immediately arrived and they took Mahanon out of the field first, getting him to immediate medical help. Danny followed to ensure his friend would continue to live.

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No One’s POV

“Solas informed me that we would need more power in order to close the Breach.” Cassandra explained to Cullen, Josephine, and Leliana as all four were in the war meeting that next morning. “Apparently, the Dalish closing the breach by himself had nearly cost him his life.”

“How is he?” Cullen inquired.

“Adan says he had developed a high fever, but with rest, he should be able to recover within the week.”

“So, is it true?” Josephine asked. “The gentleman from Signum shocked the Herald back to the living?”

Leliana responded after nodding, “It is. It was… intriguing to say the least.”

Cullen scratched his head. “I’ve been hearing about this _Signum_ folks. I thought they were only traders, but I’ve been wrong about them…”

“What do you know about this Signum?” Cassandra questioned. “Both Daniel and Lavellan are from Signum”

“To be honest, they are good folks. They appeared after the blight in Ferelden in Kirkwall, trading with all sorts of wares: weapons, armory, herbs, and some high-quality potions… though the armor they sell is not like the one Danny had worn.” He noted, pausing for a moment before continuing, “They were…I cannot say anything else, but extremely nice folks. No one thought anything was wrong of them. Even when there was a thief, instead of turning him into the authorities, they turned him into a messenger runner for the day and paid him twice the amount a runner would usually get. I have to say it decreased the amount of theft per day.”

Leliana nodded slowly. “Yes, I’ve heard about that… Have you ever interacted with them?”

“A couple of times, mostly when I was out on patrol, they greeted everyone with, ‘Hello, welcome, interested in buying any wares?’ or even asking if anyone is doing alright?” Cullen explained.

Josephine was taking all this down on her notes. “How extremely polite of them. Does it help with their business?”

Cullen nodded, leaning back as he crossed his arms, recalling the Signum merchants. “A lot, they always do have a large clientele every day, and despite how expensive their wares can be, they have some affordable standard items and even repair services. Many vendors are trying to copy what they’re doing since they’re taking away the market competition.”

“So, overall, many of these Signum citizens are polite and nice? That does not tell us much about their history, or who they are, and where they are exactly.” Cassandra pointed out. “Are they a guild?”

Cullen faltered a bit. “I… Hmm… you know, they always avert away from that question. I never really noticed since they’re not suspicious.”

“These Signum people are living in an abandoned thaig within the Vinmark Mountains.” Leliana shared vital information with them—at least as much as she could gather without crossing these Signum. “However, that is all I’ve managed to garner. I have heard that they kill anyone who would try to follow them home. My agents only got so far as to, what he called, the _metal wall_.”

“Metal wall?” Cullen inquired.

“Yes. The metal wall acts not only as a barrier but as a a door that opens like a mouth whenever they get near it. I suppose it would be more akin to castle gates.”

Josephine leaned in curiously, “What is beyond that wall?”

The Nightingale sister crossed her arms, answering, “Their home, I suppose. The abandoned thaig is their place, though it is unclear why they are living in such ruins.”

_Knock, knock!_

They paused for a moment, thinking it might be a messenger running back and forth. Cassandra was closest to the door and she opened it, revealing Danny on the other side.

“…You guys need to soundproof these doors.” He said, gesturing to the wooden ones and implying that the had been eavesdropping this entire time.

Cassandra crossed her arms, looking unimpressed. Both Josephine and Cullen looked between embarrassed and sheepish, and Leliana had a nonchalant expression.

“That was a private conversation,” The Seeker pointed out.

“I’d prefer if you all just ask questions directly to me about Signum and I’ll try to answer some. Questions that I can’t answer is mostly because it’s not just my secret, but overall, we’re just a secluded community. It seemed a better solution to live within a mountain than to face a dangerous world such as this one,” Danny explained with a hidden smile at using the word, ‘world’.

“I hear all thaigs have been overridden by darkspawn.” Leliana pointed out.

“Well, darkspawn aren’t actually smart. We laid traps and such, and pushed them back deep underground, and closed it up.” He responded aptly and before they continue the questioning, “Just so you know, I came here to give an update on Mahanon’s condition. He’s recovering. And he should be waking up in a couple days or so. He’s fever is still abnormally high.”

“How many of you are there?” Leliana questioned again.

And Danny was confused. “Excuse me?”

“How many are you living in this Signum?” She amended her question more specifically, and Danny thought answering that particular inquiry was potentially dangerous. He couldn’t actually give a specific number, and so he rounded down by hundreds.

“…Approximately half of the Haven’s population.”

Josephine gasped a bit. “It is like a town then?”

“Well, yes. It’s a town.”

She continued on to question, “You’re not a guild? Or a merchant house? Or a company?”

“No, no, no, we’re… people. Townsfolk.”

Josephine started writing down, taking notes on her clipboard with a candle. It was quite cool and conventional since attached to it was also an ink for her quill. “…And Lord Daniel…? Do you have a family name?”

Danny raised a brow at this. They were interrogating him still, or finding more about Signum? “Umm… Soto. And no Lord, titles, or anything.”

“Does that mean you are not of nobility or…?”

“Uhh…no I just work for Signum…” Danny did not feel comfortable disclosing the fact that his father is the leader of Signum. “I’m an agent as Mahanon is.”

“An agent?” Leliana questioned. “You and Lavellan are spies then.”

“Well, yes. We just came to the Conclave to hear the news and then run back home.” Danny said, repeating his same answer previously. “I mean, everyone wanted to know if the war was going to continue or end, but… low and behold, giant hole in the sky, dumping demons around… and then my best friend has the mark that could close rifts? Yeah… so not expecting all this shit—Excuse my language.”

It was silent for a moment as they were reminded by the disaster, but Leliana pressed forward. There was more information that she needed to know about this Signum. “One more thing, how is a Dalish involved in a human community such as Signum?”

Danny crossed his arms. Hmm, this information should be okay to divulge, right? “We are trading allies with the Lavellan clan… Six months ago, their clan was raided by Tevinter slavers… Half of their clan was killed and all their belongings were destroyed… They were small numbers that they couldn’t hope to survive on their own, but still too big to join any other Dalish clan, and so we Signum offered them a place to stay… we built a neighborhood for them.”

All four stared at him with disbelief, and Josephine inquired, “You built an alienage?”

“Not an alienage. An alienage would be closed off and all denizens unwelcomed to society. No. It’s an open neighborhood where they can live in peace and even go out into our city, exploring without discrimination.” Daniel answered that with much honesty. Really, the elves were extremely popular in their city. “My people don’t judge others by the shape of their ears, their height, or whether or not they have horns… As my father had said, anyone can be a piece of shit regardless of race.”

Danny managed to get a snort from Cullen for that statement though, really, he was looking more for how the Seeker would react. He saw that she had this approving look; it seemed that he may have impressed her by his words.

“…Is there anything else?” Danny asked.

“…Nothing for now.” Leliana let him go for the moment and Danny bowed his head, dismissing himself from the war room.

However, he stopped at the door and he turned to face the Seeker. “When you are available, Seeker Cassandra, I would like to speak with you privately if that’s alright.”

She blinked, and perhaps had wondered what he needed to tell her, but she nodded. “I will find you at the training grounds.”

Danny nodded, agreeing, and he left the Chantry, closing the doors.

.

An hour after, Cassandra would find Danny at the training grounds. The man was practicing with his short sword against one of the dummies that the Seeker usually battered with. His form was proper, and yet his movements were fluid and flexible. Perhaps it was his movement that were freeform, and she had seen him in battle.

He stopped when he caught her watching, and she approached him immediately, seeing that he had noticed her. “You want to speak with me?”

“Yes.” He said, panting a bit as he sheathed his blade, and he led her just a couple meters away from the dummies.

It all seemed serious and Cassandra had to wonder what Danny wanted to speak with her. Was it more fighting between them? Arguments that they had made resurfacing? Or maybe a scolding for talking about Signum behind his back?

His next words were not at all of what she expected. “…I wanted to say I’m sorry for calling you a ‘racist fuck’, and also thank you for keeping him alive.”

 She was surprised. “I see… that is all, then?”

“…That is all then--? What? It’s no good? Is there a custom that I’m missing?” Danny asked, scratching his head as things were not going well. “Do I get on my knees to apologize?”

Cassandra realized her words had caused confusion and so she reached out, stopping him. “No, that is not what I meant at all! I meant…!” She breathed a moment before amending, “…I accept your apology, and it was no problem… that is what I meant.”

Danny visibly relaxed at that. “Oh okay… good… so… ummm… do you want to spar?”

“What? You want to spar?” She raised a brow, but there was a smile in her soft lips.

He grinned. “There’s still daylight out, and you’re pretty good in battle. I’d like to keep shape and improve my form of the blade, if you don’t mind… unless you do?”

She shook her head. “I do not. Let me get my sword and shield. Brace yourself, Danny.”

He grinned back at her as she walked away to get her equipment nearby. Hmm… she has a fine ass that is for sure.

No. _Bad_ Danny. Focus.

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	13. The Hinterlands We Go!

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When Lavellan woke the next day, Danny figured Lavellan was still pretty hammered from everything that had happened. With the Breach still hovering above the sky like some foreboding shadow, a bigger hope rose among the many. They were talking about Lavellan being the Herald of Andraste, and holy shit, his friend had just become the messiah or something. When he saw Lavellan coming out of his cabin, people were like gawking and worshipping. The guards that had imprisoned him were now saluting to him.

Religious power was crazy terrifying.

Danny had to get him out of there and take him to the chantry where the Seeker and Sister Nightingale waited for his arrival, so they could discuss a little further about what is to be done about the Breach.

He didn’t think that his friend would be a key player in this Inquisition business.

“You’re joining this Inquisition?” Danny questioned, gawking a bit.

Lavellan raised his marked hand, implying that he is needed. “…No choice, Danny. You might have to go back to Signum without me.”

“Screw that. I can’t leave now… It doesn’t actually feel right walking away from all this.” He scoffed, easing down in his chair.

They were in the Singing Maiden tavern, and had ordered drinks and food, on the house because Josephine had secured everyone with free food and lodging, which is super neat of her.

“So, what are we going to tell them?” Lavellan questioned.

“I’ll think of something. No doubt, they would want to know that we’re alive. I’ve already sent two birds to Kirkwall to the Signum merchants there as unconventional as that is. Cellphone reception can’t really reach that distance unfortunately.”

The elf then pointed out, “See, you people should have trained owls to deliver your messages.”

“…Dude. That’s Harry Potter. It’s not real.”

“So is magic to you folks, but here we are with a giant rift in the sky and this magic upon my hand that is the only thing that could close it.”

“…Touché. Look, training owls isn’t even the point here, the thing is we’re joining a religious movement! Isn’t that against your Dalish heritage?” Danny inquired, then he added in a whisper, being considerate to others, “ _You don’t even believe in the Maker._ ”

“I am what Arnav called an Atheist, if you haven’t heard yet,” Mahanon answered easily with no care. “I don’t believe in the Maker nor our Elven creators.”

Danny furrowed his brows at that. He was just hearing about this now? “Yo, really? What about the tattoo scribbled on your face? Mythal and such?”

“She’s the Protector of the People, I like being akin to that title. Otherwise, I just like the design of it. I had to convince Deshanna a lot that Mythal is the Goddess I would like to follow.”

Now, Danny was gaping at him. “…Dude, you can’t just get a tattoo because you like the design of it, it has to be some sort of meaning to you! Just getting it because it’s awesome would be like an insult to your Goddess!”

Mahanon raised a brow at him before muttering, “A human is chastising a Dalish for not seriously considering what Dalish tattoo he needs to get, and for insulting his Elven creators… Strange human.”

“Shut it.” Danny prompted before taking another bite from his sandwich, making Mahanon slightly smirk from the response. Really, it was a ridiculous notion for a human to make, but this was Danny they were talking about. The human was open minded and extremely tolerant to other religions. It was freeing to talk about such things that naturally in a human-Maker environment it would be forbidden because it’s insulting.

“Hey, is that thing hurting you?” Danny inquired, watching the sparks coming out from the green mark. It’s like sparklers fireworks or something.

Mahanon glanced down, grimacing. “Sort of. I’m getting used to it though, like the horrible muscle aches you would put me through.”

Danny ignored him for that accusation as he reached out to touch it. “It’s just so strange— _AH!_ ”

When he reached out to touch the mark, he was electrocuted and immediately fell off the chair. The whole room turned to their attention, gaping as they had seen green marks flying off when Danny grasped Mahanon’s left hand to inspect the mark, only to be knocked off his chair.

Mahanon immediately stood up, alarmed. “Danny?!”

In an instant, Danny was up in his feed, grasping the table for support. “I’m okay! ...I’m okay…” He moved back in to sit down and Mahanon slowly joined in, still concerned for his friend.

Danny turned to see the people in the tavern, staring at them, and he waved at them, saying, “I’m good, people! I just got hurt because I touched his mark. The Maker probably doesn’t like that. I suggest no one touch him either!”

Mahanon flushed, embarrassed at the loud exclamation as the people went back to chatting, only to gossip on what just happened and taking Danny’s words seriously. Mahanon had to kick his shin under the table for saying such things. “Damn it, Danny. You can’t say such things!” He harshly whispered.

Danny winced a bit form the pain but he chuckled. “Can’t help it. Besides you shocked me.”

“Ugh! Are you okay?” Mahanon asked in a serious tone, his eyes carrying concern.

“Dude. Yes. I’m fine, it’s just… wow it shocked me.” Danny treated this more seriously as he leaned in so he could whisper. “…I think it’s my barrier that reacted to it. Can’t cancel whatever magic that shit is.”

Mahanon sighed heavily at that, glancing down at his cursed left hand. “I am starting to hate this.”

“You alright there, Charming?” A friendly dwarven voice piped in and the two looked to see both Varric and Solas there.

Both Mahanon and Danny moved over a sit, giving each of the two a spot to sit on and they took it, while the Signum agent answered, “Yeah. It was just… _shocking_. Oh, and _Charming?_ Was that directed to me?”

Varric grinned at that, proud of his creativity. “Oh yes.”

“…Is that because of my foul language?”

“And everything else.”

Danny pouted at that. “That hurts, Varric. I’ll be calling you Parody author, or barf-face.”

Varric loudly laugh at that immature nickname while Solas brought up. “I have never seen the mark react that way with what it did to you, Daniel.”

“Well, surprise. That thing can hurt people.” Danny said and Mahanon frowned at that, looking down at his drink, taking his friend’s words seriously. Danny noticed the Dalish elf’s behavior immediately that his nonchalant careless words affected his friend, and quickly added, “Not that Mahanon did it on purpose or anything. I was the one that reached out to touch it!”

Mahanon shook his head. “Intentional or not, the danger is there…” He was now gripping his left hand, closing it, but even then, it continued to glow.

Danny didn’t like Mahanon down like that. The elf was hardly ever down—well, except for the first few weeks after half of his clan was murdered. He fell into a depression that even Sudoku had a difficult time, getting him out. Distraction, patience, and constant attention on him were needed.

“At least you have a nightlight.” Danny pointed out, even if the dwarf and the bald elf didn’t understand that word, but Mahanon did and he chuckled a bit. When the Dalish kids first slept in the thaig in their tents, they couldn’t sleep. They were too afraid of darkspawn popping out. Danny and the others slept in another tent nearby to keep them at ease, but it wasn’t enough, so Danny went to get a nightlight. It was one of those pillow-pet’s night light with stars and music playing that mesmerized the children more than it lulled them to any sort of sleep. They stayed up all night until they tired themselves out in the morning.

“Ahh, yes… except that it’s not actually that relaxing.”

“Still a nightlight.”

Though both Varric and Solas were confused, Danny was glad it sidetracked the mage from asking anymore questions as to why the mark just threw him off his chair. His body still slightly ached from the sudden electric charge. It felt like a taser used in a low setting, though it was enough to push him off his seat.

A barmaid was heading over to them and Danny raised his hand, calling out, “Livia! Mind bringing more drinks here please! Two, and more food!”

Livia bowed her head and immediately went to the back to get more.

“So, the Inquisition, eh?” Varric prompted. “Can’t say I didn’t see that coming. They did come to Kirkwall with some holy army that I almost mistook for the exalted march.”

“Are you both staying?” Mahanon inquired.

“Of course, can’t really walk away from all that shit.” Varric answered, practically very similar to Danny’s words, and Danny nodded approvingly. This dwarven guy was a good person.

“And you, Solas?”

Solas nodded. “I will be staying to help. The Breach in the sky is still open after all. Seeing it close would be relieving.”

Livia soon returned with more drinks and food for both Varric and Solas but before she could leave, Danny stopped her and handed her a tip, 5 silvers. She was shocked and he added an explanation, “A tip.”

“T-Tip?”

Lavellan quickly explained, “It is to thank you for your patient service. Thank you, Livia.”

“Y-yes, Your worship! Th-thank you!”

She went away, immediately putting the coin away in her pockets. Both Solas and Varric were now looking at the two strangely, and Danny answered for himself, “What? It’s common in my place to tip your waitress or waiter.”

They then looked at Mahanon, and he only nodded to them. “It’s true. These Signum people consider it rude not to tip, among other things.”

Solas leaned in curiously, “such as?”

Danny was also curious. How did Mahanon view them? Probably not all that bad if the Dalish trusted them so much and such.

Mahanon glanced at his friend for a moment, ghosting a smile before back at Solas. “The incessive need for cleanliness is one of those things. Everyone wash their hands almost constantly, and they take baths at least once a day, if not twice. They are also extremely particular about cleaning their teeth.”

Varric’s eyes widened and he turned to Danny, questioning, “Is that why your teeth are so white, Charming? Do your people also make it straight?”

Danny blinked as he hadn’t realized yet that all that would seem like really strange methods to Thedosians. He should have known Dental hygiene was not the norm here in this world, other pulling teeth out. He just remained quiet, listening to his Dalish friend’s words of him.

“They have what they call _dentists_.” Mahanon explained and the two were eating all this information up. “Dentists to clean and straighten their teeth. Even making sure that they don’t have bad breath. They say it’s a sign of oral infection if the breath is rancid.”

Danny noted that Varric had already gotten his journal out, even his quill and ink from his inner coat pockets. Damn, this author was prepared for anything. Mahanon noticed that and he gestured to the quill, “Oh, that reminds me, they have strange quills called a pen. The pen already has ink inside so you would only continue writing—You have one on you, don’t you Danny?”

Danny furrowed his brows at his friend, before rolling his eyes. “You know you’re not supposed to talk about our inventions,” he reminded him but he did reach into his pack and got out a pen.

The two were now looking at the small thin device in Danny’s hands before handed it to the dwarf, after opening the cap. “Try writing with it.”

Varric blinked and he tested it out on the journal. Ink bled and wrote with precision and the dwarf pulled back. “Andraste’s tits…!”

Danny chortled at the curse, and Mahanon leaned in, gesturing, “Do you see what I mean?”

“Remarkable.” Even Solas was awed at such a small device as he leaned in closer to inspect it. Varric moved it towards the elf, so he wasn’t hogging all of it. The apostate elf inquired, “Your people thought of this?”

Danny nodded. “We got lazy dipping the quill in ink bottles. Making the pens saves us time, and not waste ink, you know.”

Now Varric snorted at that ‘lazy’ reason. “You’re right though. It would save a lot of time and ink. It’s not even spilling out, and… what’s this thing made out of?”

“Plastic.” Recycled plastic of course. They knew how dangerous plastic can be, but so useful at the same time. “It’s not approved for trading yet to the public.” He reached out for it and the dwarf reluctantly handed it back.

“And why not?” Solas asked.

“Because it is made of plastic. The material is harmless but a hundred of these plastics can be hazardous to the environment and the inhabitants in it.” Danny explained. “It’s not approved because if we sell these to Thedosians— _people_ —we fear they may not dispose the pens properly once it is emptied out. If they toss it out in the environment where wildlife might eat it out of curiosity, it can’t be ingested. It would either come out the other end, or it stays in their stomach and/or intestines.”

Solas furrowed his brows. “That is troubling, but how is it environmentally a hazard?”

Danny leaned in, showing the pen. “What if, for example, a deer chewed on this pen and swallowed it? Then a lion comes along to eat it, or a tiger, or us people hunting it… We also ingest the plastic, and things like that can cause severe indigestion that could lead to death… Now, the thing is we Signum can make thousands of these, and say we sell it to the public, 2 coppers a piece—”

Varric smacked the table. “ _Two coppers?_ Are you Signum giving these pens away?”

“These are cheaply made, Varric, but it’s just an example. Point is when there is enough of these and are thrown out into the wild or into the sea, then… it’s environmentally hazardous. There are other reasons, but that’s the most important one.”

The two stared at him astounded and Mahanon added an explanation, “Signum people are also very wary of their environment. They even think _micturating_ in the river is a sin—”

“ _WHY_ would anyone PEE in the river? People drink there!!” He raised his voice, outraged by the notion, before Mahanon hit him from across the table, telling him to lower his voice as they were getting strange looks.

Varric was laughing this all up, noting down every little piece of information that was given to him.

“Oh, then there’s the constant need of them to _exercise_.” Mahanon stressed, grimacing at the word.

Daniel’s brows raised. “That’s right! You need to get back on the regime, Mahanon. You’ve been out for three weeks, including this 4th week.”

Mahanon gaped at him. “…I…I was ill!”

“Now you’re not. 5:00 a.m. tomorrow, Mahanon.”

The Dalish groaned at that, regretting for bringing up the exercise bit. Daniel hid a grin at his friend’s misery. Of course, he’ll be merciful for the next morning, knowing that Mahanon might not be physically well enough yet.

.

The next morning came, and as Danny promised, they went out on their usual regime— _halved_. Less strenuous exercise, and just a mile running. Danny had brought with them special set of thermal suits that would protect them from the cold weather, but also from overheating.

Danny gave Mahanon some long breaks in between and by the time it was dawn, they were outside of Haven, doing sit-ups and push-ups. Soldiers that were coming that morning to train watched with curiosity. After that, they started to stretch. Danny helped him stretch first, and boy there were a lot of people watching, curious how the elf can split his legs like that, and then crouching over to touch his toes, holding on to his foot with his forehead on his knee. Danny was pushing down on Mahanon, helping him to keep stretched and even counted for him, before they switched positions so Danny was stretching and Mahanon was counting.

Then Danny went away to the blacksmith for a moment before returning with two long metal staves. He tossed one to Mahanon, who easily caught it.

“Let’s see some combat skills, Mahanon.”

“Best two out of three?”

“No. Ten hits.”

“You just want to show off, don’t you?”

Danny smirked at that accusation, before he charged in first, swinging. Mahanon blocked and executed a back kick, which staggered the human away, but not falling.

“One for me.” the Dalish pointed out, smirking.

Danny raised a brow before rushing at him, feigning a strike as he slid down and swept Mahanon off his feet, landing him into the thin patch of snow. He got back up, smirking back, “One for me too.”

The Dalish glared back and he got back up.

Soon, their staves were dropped as they switched to hand-to-hand combat. Daniel knew every pair of eyes were on them that morning, watching their sparring match. He even caught Commander Cullen distracted from training his soldiers, and instead watched their sparring match. He knew it would be nothing like what Thedosians were taught. Daniel was more the expert in a type of mixed martial arts and common hand-to-hand combat. Sudoku’s fighting style focused more on kung fu, judo, and taekwondo, but most of all kendo with a samurai blade.

Mahanon was trained by both him and Sudoku, so his style was more mixed and yet still so fluid and adaptable. Ever since they started training the Dalish to be a Signum agent, he was remarkably a prodigy. He learned things so quickly, faster than Lesas ever did, and even late-students who also entered the program. Danny labeled him as some Mary-sue person because he only needed to watch and then successfully execute a move. It’s hardly fair, considering the rest of the agents had years to practice and perfect their form. It took Mahanon only less than six months of training to be this good.

Danny’s eyes widened as his punch was grabbed and in an instant, Mahanon flipped him over with all his strength, landing him on the scattered snow. He grunted aloud from the shock of impact and Mahanon knelt down and threw a punch unto his neck—though stopping an inch away. “HA!...Ha..ha…Ten!” He exclaimed between his pants. “I win!...Ha…!”

Danny was a little stunned. “Ha…ha… holy shit, you did…”

Mahanon leaned back, sitting his ass down on the snow as he panted heavily, trying to control his breathing. Danny sat up, stretching and wincing a bit probably from the bruises when that stick got him in the guts.

They can hear Cullen barking again, and the sound of swords clanging and shields bashing resumed on the snowy field. The two looked over to see the soldiers got to work, practicing more vigorously than they did yesterday. Lieutenant Rylen was even barking some encouraging words, and Danny had to wonder why were they so pumped up? Was it because of the sparring the men had witnessed?

Cullen left his spot, walking over to them. “That was… quite a show. Where did you both learn how to fight like that?”

Mahanon got back up on his feet and he held his hand out to Danny, who took it, and helped him up. The Dalish then answered by gesturing towards Danny, and now Cullen was looking at the Signum agent, anxiously waiting for the answer.

Danny laughed a bit sheepishly. “Hahaha… I grew up learning it at the academy—Signum has an academy. They have a lot of classes, and one of them is learning how to defend yourself.”

He blinked. “An academy? I thought you said you weren’t of nobility.”

“I’m not. Every kid in Signum has to attend the Academy; it’s the _law_ at our place. It’s free too.” He explained clearer before adding, “Mahanon here joined a more fast-paced program of it. He’s been in it for a little more than five months, otherwise, I used to wipe the floor on him.”

Mahanon sighed at that. “Yes, you did. Every time you knocked me off my feet. You would point and laugh at me.”

Cullen snorted at that and Danny only grinned at his elf friend, “Haha… it was provocation…to get you up on your feet, swinging your fists.”

“Well, your show had bolstered the morale of my soldiers.” The commander noted as they looked over the soldiers working hard with so much energy among them. They were seriously all fired up, that they were roaring with each hit. Men, Danny thought proudly.

“Well, come on, Mahanon. Get your sword.” Danny insisted as he went to get his blade that was set aside.

Mahanon groaned at that. He had thought it was over after beating him in a spar, but it just wasn’t enough for the human, was it? He looked over to Cullen to see if he could save him from more training. Cullen just gave him an apologetic smile before walking back to his soldiers.

“Yo! Come on, get your blade!”

Mahanon winced before reluctantly going to retrieve his blade.

.

Their training halted when the proceeding of installing the Inquisition was official, and on that exact same day, they went on to travel into the Hinterlands where the crossroads are. It had exactly taken them approximately two days to get there on horses’ backs. From there, they engaged a battle between rebel mages and rogue templars, neither listening as they fell into the spell of chaotic war. Danny knew that sort of delusion, where both sides just keep fighting, no longer seeing any point of reason. It was between his own comrades and them, and there was no other choice.

Once mages were involved, Danny had to extremely careful around them. He started to notice his presence, and it’s not because Solas was near him. It was okay if Solas was near him, it was not okay if he started using magic out of nowhere if he was within five meters. From the constant experimentation with Anders throwing fireballs at him over the last six months, Danny was getting more…sensitive to mages using magic. His first evidence of that was when his invisible barrier flared up when no one was around, but he was more alert than the others, and perceptive. He saw the glow of lightning from behind the thick bushes, and immediately called out the ambush.

The enemy’s ambush failed, and they gained the upper hand, eliminating the threat. It was nice to live another time, but it was getting Danny a little frightened about his own ability. Sooner or later, Solas was going to catch up. He definitely had this vibe of knowing the mysteries and then solving it, or something. The guy was… nosy and observant. He even questioned how Danny knew they were there, and Danny just shrugged, lamely answering _instincts_.

Of course, Mahanon had to add, knowing the inside joke, ‘ _Magical instincts_.’

Danny had to punch him at the shoulder for that remark, causing only more confusion for Solas.

After talking with Mother Giselle and getting information about the chantry, they couldn’t leave. Well, they could if they wanted to, but they didn’t want to; the crossroads was a mess. There were many refugees camped around, both hurt and starving. They were all caught in the crossfire of both templar and mages. Mages just killing about anyone that could potentially betray them and templars slaying anyone who could be potentially a mage. Both sides causing chaos for the innocent people.

Thus, they stayed, going around and helping people as well as closing the rifts that they encountered on the way. It helped when Mahanon could also detect that crazy shit. They also went hunting for rams, and with Mahanon and Varric, collecting the meat was no trouble. They even got assignments from Corporal Vale to collect apostates’ supply caches and to stop the bandits on the east road. Easily said than done but they got things done.

They spent mostly about four days in Hinterlands and they went further south from the crossroads, heading towards a fort called the Winterwatch Tower. Cultists were living in it, and well-behaved ones, Danny thanked god for that. He always heard cultists were just crazy people with blood sacrifices and such… that, or he watched too many movies. After Mahanon closed the rift, now they were worshipping him and Danny quietly laughed at him, only for Cassandra to elbow him, reminding him to be mindful.

They left the Winterwatch Tower, scouting further ahead as Mahanon had promised a noble that had joined the cult—Lord Berand—of finding his wife.

“Do you just know where to go, Mahanon?” Danny questioned as they went down the unpaved road. “Do you have like a map screen in front of you that shows where your quest ends?”

His words confused the others, but Mahanon knew the references as he turned to him to respond, “This isn’t a game, Danny.”

“Then dare I ask where exactly are we going?”

“Just… this way.” Mahanon had no real reasons why they must go that way but they must, and he insisted, and he has the mark, so everything goes as he says.

Varric then cut in, “Wait. You two need to explain what you discussed. These inside jokes are getting to me.”

Cassandra dryly added, “I agree. Half the time I’m not quite sure if you’re speaking common at all.”

“And it is also quite rude leaving us out from the conversation that would surely be enlightening if we were politely informed.” Solas added with a quip.

All three were looking mostly at Danny expectedly, who recoiled, holding his hands up. “Yo, hold up now. Okay, okay. I’ll be more mindful, alright? Next confusing terms, I’ll explain them as best as I can.”

“Someone’s here!” Mahanon called out as he was several meters away---how did he get that far without them noticing?

They rushed over to him and sure enough, there was a dead woman covered in dirt, her clothes were in pieces. The stench of death filled the air and the Herald only reached into her pockets, finding a letter. The letter confirmed that this lady was absolutely Vellina, Lord Berand’s lover.

“When did you become a mabari, Mahanon?” Daniel asked but with no humor in his tone as he stared down at the dead woman. Shit… this was insane. A cut across…definitely a Templar’s doing if there weren’t any burns on her. Not only that, but the way her cloths were torn, it meant they did more than just killed her. The blood between her legs were evident.

“Maker preserve her…” He heard Cassandra pray, and she must have known too of the unfortunate fate of this girl.

They ended up burying beneath the ground, with Solas help moving the earth and such, and then carefully put dirt over. They padded down the soil and added flowers. As they were plotting this garden like tombstone, Danny was starting to hear things. At first, he was creeped out and didn’t mention it to the others that he was hearing whispering. Was the dead lady talk to him? _God please don’t. Go to the Maker’s arms, lady, go find peace please!_ The singing only got louder as time passed here to the point where Danny realized that this was something else… it was…calling him.

Something was calling him for help…

“Did you guys hear that?” Danny inquired a little frustrated as he looked towards where the sound was coming.

“Don’t tell me you’re also getting our Heraldness’ seeking ability, Charming… Charming? Where are you going?” Varric tried to question him but the Signum agent was already walking ahead in a hurry.

Mahanon stood up. “Danny? Danny!”

They were calling out to him, but Danny ignored them as he listened and followed the whispers. He wasn’t sure if they were following or not, but then again, he wasn’t too concerned of it. Something was calling out to him.

He soon arrived at an abandoned mine and just walked through the barrier, breaking it. He wasn’t thinking anymore as he only pressed on forward to hear these whispers.

Something wasn’t right. Every inch of his body was screaming to turn away, but there was something… just something…

_We are here…_

His brows furrowed. From among their harsh whispers, those were the only words he understood when he finally arrived at what was making those noises.

Lyrium. _Red_ lyrium.

_We have waited…_

There was this big chunk of it sticking out from the cave walls and spreading like fungus. He tiled his head as the whispers only continued, deafening his ears, but it didn’t hurt. It was undeniably beckoning to him.

He was about to walk over when someone grabbed him and pulled him back.

“Hey!” Mahanon shook him and was ready to smack him across the face, but stopped seeing that Danny was blinking. “You just took off running, what’s wrong? What…”

The Dalish elf trailed off as he realized what Danny had just found. Primeval red lyrium nodes, the one that Varric talked to him about before that they should track down and destroy. Speak of Andraste, the others had just arrived and Varric slowed down, seeing the familiar red glowing shard, only bigger, twice his demeanor.

Varric gaped a bit. “Andraste’s tits… you could hear that from so far away?”

“It was…calling…” Danny was so mesmerized by it, and it wasn’t good a sign to anyone present as they only pushed him back.

“The red lyrium shouldn’t affect you, not at such great distance.” Solas noted, trying to logically understand this situation.

However, Cassandra had enough about this nonsense. Whatever’s causing it, this red lyrium was dangerous. They had already decided that they were just going to destroy the nodes. The stories of what it did to Varric’s brother, and the knight commander Meredith? It was too much of a risk to be left alone.

“Move!” She said, shoving Danny back, as she marched over with her blade drawn.

She held her blade high, and without warning brought it right down, instantly shattering the crystal.

Danny watched the red lyrium shatter into pieces and the whispers grew into cries of agony before dying out. The screams tore right through him, and it… it almost felt like Cassandra had harmed him as well. His entire being shattered from a single hit… This felt wrong, this…

He could no longer think as darkness quickly shrouded, and all he could hear was his own name.

.

Danny woke in an uncomfortable makeshift bed, groaning as the headache greeted him with a hammer to the head. “Ugghhhh…” He groaned aloud, moving now to sit up, but slowly.

“Danny.” He expected Mahanon, but not really Cassandra who was right there at his bedside. “Lavellan had just left to inform Lord Berand of his lover’s unfortunate death. He should be back soon. How are you feeling?”

“Ugh… Sick… headache… could you hand me my flask and my pack, please?” He gestured to the table across, seeing that his equipment has been taken off of him so he could lie down comfortably on this horrid bed.

Cassandra went to do so, grabbing the flask made out of a material that she didn’t recognize, and also grabbing the pack that was attached to his belt. She brought it over and Danny took them gratefully as he rummaged through the pack. He took out a small white bottle with red on it and some writing that seemed like Orlesian script. However, it is unlike anything the Seeker had ever seen as she watched Danny open the bottle and took two white little oval stones. Then, he put in his mouth and drank water, helping to swallow the little stones.

Danny soon noticed Cassandra’s curiosity, and he gestured to the bottle. “This is _Tylenol_. It’s a type of a painkiller, and they come in _pills_ …They make the pain go away. Headaches for example.”

“You don’t feel the headache anymore?”

“Haha… it doesn’t work that fast, but it will in an hour or so…” He answered, lying back down, covering his face with his arm. “Shit… what happened?”

Cassandra settled back down to her chair. “You passed out after we… I shattered the red lyrium.”

Danny then moved his arm, looking over at the Seeker with a questionable look. “…Red lyrium? There’s such thing as a red lyrium?”

Now it was the Seeker’s turn to look at him strangely. “You do not remember?”

“I remember finding the noble’s lover, and nothing… well, I do remember a song…a strange, eerie song.” Danny furrowed his brows.

The Seeker now looked at him with concern before proceeding to tell him everything that had happened from the point they discovered the noble’s lover to Danny running off, ignoring everything until he made it into an abandoned mine. They found him inside, facing the huge shard of red lyrium. In all honesty, he did not remember any of that—well… it sounded familiar. He remembered hearing things, but nothing else.

Lavellan and the others soon returned, and after conversing with Danny’s strange occurrence, they decided it’d be best that Danny wasn’t with them if they were going to go and destroy primaveral red lyrium nodes. Despite how handy it would be to have Danny locate them, they weren’t really too sure how it was affecting him.

Even Danny himself had no clue why a red lyrium shard was able to call him from a far distance.

.

The day ended with that strange note, and the next morning, they were making the journey back to Haven. They have done all that they can in the Hinterlands, and now they must return in order to speak with the advisors about their next move. Their next move was probably Mother Giselle’s suggestion: go to Val Royeaux and address the clerics there.

“Do you need a gun, Mahanon?” Danny asked him.

Mahanon shook his head. “I’m not going there to fight, but I am taking my bow and sword. Besides, using my gun would mean advertising more of Signum.”

“True.”

“And what will you be doing?” Mahanon questioned. “It sounds like you won’t be coming with me.”

“I was thinking of retrieving the jeep and bringing it to Haven? Hopefully, it should still be there.”

Varric turned to the two. “You have a jeep? Here in Ferelden?”

“This _jeep_ is that the one I hear that is a horseless wagon?” Cassandra inquired. “It moves by itself without a horse?”

Danny grinned at her. “Yup. Faster than a horse too—no offense to you, _Secretariat_.” He said, patting the brown horse he was riding. He had never ridden a horse before so the time when they were leaving Haven, he had difficulty gaining her trust. At the end of the day, after feeding her his apples and a hidden stash of nutrition bar, the horse fell in love with him.

There was something more relaxing with riding a horse than driving a jeep, though he’d use the jeep if they needed to go to war or something. He’s not taking his horse to a war. A jeep can be replaced.

“How exactly does that work?” Solas questioned this time.

And he shrugged, “It’s the engine. I’ll show you, but just so you know, I didn’t build it. I just know how to use it, you know? …Yo, Mahanon, why you stopping?”

Mahanon had halted his horse, making it neigh from the sudden pull. The alarmed notion grasped their attention as they moved their horses to see what the elf was looking at. Daniel followed his line of eyesight towards the view of Haven…and now, he too was _gaping_ at the distressing sight at their destination.

 _Jeeps_. Loads of them. He counted five. Both he and Mahanon looked at each other before racing down the road to get to Haven.

To their horror, the **Signum Cavalry** had arrived.

.

.

.


	14. Storm Coasting

.

.

.

“You sent birds to deliver messages? What? You think we’re Harry Potter all of the sudden, using owls?” Corporal Kano Sakai berated the young agent, crossing his arms.

Danny grimaced at him. “What the f——Have you been talking with Mahanon prior to this? This has nothing to do with Harry Potter! We don’t even have _owls!_ ”

Kano just shook his head. “Missing the point here. We didn’t get your letters, Danny.”

Then why bring up Harry Potter? Danny wanted to retort but they’d be going around in circles.

Both Mahanon and Danny had raced down to Haven to find the Signum Cavalry unit, led by Corporal Kano, camped right outside Haven. The military unit was attracting a lot of attention. The two were a little disappointed that they didn’t see any of their friends, like Sudoku or Arnav or even Adrian; however, that only meant the situation was huge, and that Signum couldn’t risk their other top agents. Why was this a big deal? Well, it was not only the jeeps that were _heavily armored_ , but the soldiers as well. They have brought every military equipment, the wall tents, and the secured bins carrying heavy ammunition and weapons.

Although the two were touched that Signum sent such reinforcements…They didn’t need such _heavy_ reinforcements.

It was God’s divine luck that they didn’t start fighting or anything, thanks to the Advisors’ intervention, communicating with Kano, and Kano was at least the kind of guy that talks first before he shoots. Still they had an altercation with each other when arriving at such a place. Although that altercation was settled, things were a bit strained between them.

Mahanon left, going with Cassandra to attend the meeting with the other advisors while Daniel stayed behind to deal with the situation.

“Why did Dad send you guys?” Danny questioned, getting back on point.

Kano rolled his eyes. “Your father thought you and Mahanon died at the explosion. We were sent here to recover your corpses… though along the way, we heard rumors of some guy and an elf that are from Signum are in Haven, thinking it may be you two… We came here with the intention to talk, but then they started firing arrows at our jeeps.”

He grimaced. “Please don’t tell me you retaliated—”

Kano cut in, “We threw harmless black pepper bombs at the primitives.”

Danny gave him a deadpanned look. “…I hate you.”

“Their soldiers surrounded us and I had to come out. It took a while to convince the lion guy—the Commander of this Inquisition, not to take it too personally.”

“You are a bastard, Kano.”

Kano just shrugged. “Hey. No one got killed. You still need to tell your father that you and your friend are alive.”

Danny sighed heavily. There was nothing much to do and surely, he will hear about it from Cullen, and listen to his side of the story. There must be some way not to frighten the locals here with their equipment and not give them cause to attack.

“Is the radio set up?”

Kano nodded and he led Danny into the camp, ignoring the onlookers still gawking at their way. They went into one of the wall tents, and Danny took a sit in front of the radio as they set it up. They had called the Signum HUB and immediately connected it to his dad’s office.

_ “Danny?” _

“Dad! How are you--”

 _“Ohh, thank god—You could have sent a message you know that you were alive.”_ His father chastised him over the comm.

“I did. I guess the birds failed to deliver to the traders at Kirkwall.”

“ _Birds? Really? You could deliver it yourself faster than birds could--_ ”

Danny rolled his eyes before interrupting his father, “I know that, dad, but we’re not exactly in the position to leave as I’m sure Kano have already told you about the giant hole in the sky.”

“ _Yes, he did, but what does that have to do with you two?_ ”

“Well, funny you should ask…”

And Danny told the whole story to his father from the beginning when the Temple of Ashes exploded until the recent news. His father remained quiet the entire time and only interrupted when he had questions, like what is this Inquisition? Is it like the Spanish Inquisition? What was the point? Who was this Solas? Or Cassandra? Questions like those.

When Danny finished telling his story, his father remained quiet over the comm, and after a minute, he asked him one more question, “ _You two are not coming back home any time soon, are you?”_

Danny sighed. “I… to be honest, dad, I feel like I can’t. I have to stay, and I’m sure with the mark on Mahanon’s hand, he won’t be able to leave either.”

A few more moments of silence. “ _…Do you both need supplies and the cavalry to stay there?_ ”

Danny’s eyes widened at this unexpected offer. “Wait, seriously? You’ll leave the cavalry with us?”

“ _We’ll have a supply line set up, maybe at Denerim if we could get some private docks there secured… If what you say is true, and that having the Inquisition means preventing the end of the world, then we should try to support them. It will give Signum a good reputation._ ”

“The Inquisition doesn’t really have a good rep right now.”

“ _We’ll spread the word then. Besides, this is a good opportunity for Signum to be involved—for the first time—with Thedosian political problems._ ”

Danny raised a brow at that, even though his father won’t see it. “Didn’t you say you want us to be low key as possible?”

“ _That was then, this is now. I can’t really take back the decision to send a cavalry unit to retrieve you both… I’m glad you’re alright, son. Take care of the unit._ ”

“…I will. Thanks dad.”

“ _And be careful son._ ” The tone in his father’s voice changed into solemn. “ _…I don’t want to hear about you dying…not again._ ”

Danny recoiled a bit as his father brought up the past. “…I… I will be careful, dad.”

“ _Good… let me talk to Kano._ ”

With that, Danny left the tent, letting the corporal talk to his father, probably giving him instructions and stuff. Some part of him was telling him to let his father know about what happened with the red lyrium, and stuff, but… He didn’t really feel comfortable revealing that to him. He was sure it would never affect their own people any differently than those of Thedas. It’s probably more about of what Dr. Nguyen did to him and the others.

Shrugging off traumatizing memories, Danny walked back to Haven. When he heard Mahanon was still in the meeting, he made a bee-line towards the chantry. Ignoring the guards, he marched right in, interrupting the meeting.

“Hey. The cavalry is staying.” He announced to the room.

Cullen was too aghast to be put off by his sudden interruption. “They’re _staying?_ After _attacking_ our soldiers?”

Daniel turned to him. “Yeah. Corporal Kano told me that your soldiers fired arrows at them first before the cavalry threw pepper bombs to scare them off—not to hurt them.”

Before the Commander would continue the argument, Mahanon cut him off, saying, “Wait, wait, they’re staying? Is that what your father said?”

“Yup. Originally, they were sent here to retrieve our corpses, Mahanon, because you know, they thought we were dead.” Danny explained. “My messages delivered by the birds never reached them, so they’re here. I had to explain to my dad what’s been happening and after talking to him, he just said that we can have the cavalry for Inquisition purposes—Yes, Cullen, they’re under your command until further notice. My dad also said about setting up a supply line. We’d need to decide what sort of supply, and for me, ammunition is a must.”

Mahanon hummed, crossing his arms at that, but the others were mostly confounded by the situation unfolding.

Leliana had to inquire, “Wait. You said, he _just_ said? Your father is here?”

Danny blinked. “No, he’s at Signum.”

“Then how did you receive his message so quickly?” Leliana questioned, and Danny realized the misunderstanding. Right. The Radio. Why did he keep forgetting that modern tech doesn’t exist in this world?

“Oh! It wasn’t a written message. He was talking to me all the way from Signum.” Danny clarified. “We have a device that allows us to talk instantaneously to each other despite the great distance.”

Again. Signum had shown them technology that was more superior than magic.

“That… that must be very useful.” Josie awed. There was still so much more that Signum could surprise them, and… “But, Daniel, is your father an important man? You said that we can have this _cavalry_ , and not only that, but he will set up a supply line? Does his position entails of military, or…?”

 _Oh shit_. Danny thought as he realized he was never actually clear about his father’s position, because, at the time, he wasn’t uncomfortable disclosing such sensitive information.

But Mahanon had no trouble at all as he answered Josie for him, “He didn’t tell you? His father is the _leader_ of Signum.”

Silence filled the room as they were stunned at this information, and Danny turned to the elf, forcing a smile. “Gee, thanks for telling them, Mahanon.”

“You’re welcome.” He responded cheerily, knowing exactly what he just did, making Danny glare at the elf. That was probably payback from the time when Danny finally revealed to Mahanon who his father actually is: the leader of Signum, and that was two weeks after Mahanon and his clan arrived at Signum. One could imagine hiding such a big a secret would be extremely important, but Danny expressed it was never a secret; the elf just never asked.

The others were giving him criticizing looks and Danny held his hands up in defense. “Hey, hey, hey, you guys didn’t specifically ask.”

Leliana then called him out, “That would have been vital information to share about your lineage, Danny, as much as you do not like to share about yourself, but hardly does you or your people help keep Signum’s existence a secret.”

“Yes, I have told them that too, Leliana.” Mahanon supported the remark. “They show off more instead of keeping a low key.”

What a friend. Danny just scowled at him.

In the end, Mahanon just waved them off nonchalantly, saying, “Alright, back to important matters. The Signum Cavalry is staying. They are both experts in subterfuge and/or military strikes. They’re free of service so long as food and water are provided.”

He then faced towards Cullen, continuing, “You may have them Commander, if you need them for more challenging jobs. They have experience in battle, even if their knowledge of the culture here is a little low.”

The advisors have already gotten the gist that Daniel and these Signum people were entirely different, not like Thedosians. They don’t really know that they’re not from here (it hasn’t been officially confirmed, even if they suspect it so), but they do understand that Signum people were diversely different from everyday thedosian humans. They were also coming to understand that Signum may be superior in every way, and that was something to fear. Although right now, it wasn’t. With Mahanon and Daniel, the advisors and even the Seeker recognize that Signum could be a good ally to have.

“So, what’s happening?” Danny asked.

Cassandra answered, “We are going to Val Royeaux tomorrow to face the Chantry Cleric, and the Herald is to address them.”

Danny chuckled a bit at the ‘Herald’ title when he saw his Dalish friend grimace at them. He only added more fire, saying, “Ahh. Make sure you break the bread and pass the cup of blood, _Messiah_.”

Once more, his remarks confused them while Mahanon just glared at him. “As for you, Danny, we have an assignment other than fetching the jeep.”

Oh. His student was giving him orders? Interesting.

“Oh? And what’s that?”

.

.

.

“A Qunari warrior known as the Iron Bull is offering aid for the Inquisition from his Mercenary company, The Bull’s Chargers.” One of Signum solders read aloud the paper as Danny was driving them to their destination: The Storm Coast.

On the way to the storm coast, Danny and two signum soldiers, Jayda and Samuel, had picked up the jeep that he and Mahanon left behind over a month ago. It was in absolute good condition and no one ever noticed the behemoth machine. They placed the hood over, knowing that—just from the name—it was going to be raining.

And by gods, it was raining heavily as Danny maneuvered the jeep into safer roads, even though every path seems to be slippery and muddy.

“How come they get creative names while we get the title: Signum _Cavalry?_ ” Jayda questioned. “Even the Valo-Kas mercenary sounded pretty epic.”

Danny chuckled at that. “I don’t know. Kano picked the name for you guys, not me. I would have named you guys ‘Disney Mayhem’ or something else sillier.”

“No thank you,” Sam immediately said as he kept his eyes on the map while Danny drove. “So, what’s the difference with Qunari and Vashoth? Isn’t Qunari the race name?”

“Uhmm… from what Arnav told me, it means people of the Qun, so even humans that are in the Qun would also be called Qunari,” Danny explained, recalling from what Arnav and Inera had told him about the Qun. There was a fifty-fifty chance that this Qunari maybe just a Vashoth or maybe ‘of the Qun’, and if he is the second option, then he’s probably a spy.

They soon see the Inquisition camp not too far off, and he slowed down. The scouts there were wary, but they seem to know that they weren’t enemies. After Danny parked, he and the others got out, already wearing their camo rain gear. The smell of the sea hit them and the droplets of rain slid off their outfit. Pitter. Patter.

A half-sized pint was standing not too far away, waiting, but staring in awe at the jeep.

“Yo, Scout Harding!” Danny waved at her happily as he approached her while the two got out their weapons and stashing some ammo.

“Wow, is that one of the jeeps that I hear about?” She asked, awing at the big contraption of four wheels. “How does it work? Can I try it?”

“Uhmm… Sure, but only if you can reach the pedals…” Danny carefully responded and she only tilted her head at him, unsure what he meant.

“…Oh well, for what it’s worth, welcome to the Storm Coast.” She said dryly, gesturing. “I would have sent word sooner, but our efforts have been…delayed.”

Danny asked, “What’s happening?”

Scout Harding spoke grimly, “There’s a group of bandits operating in the area, they know the terrain, and our small party has had trouble going up against them. Some of our soldiers went to speak with their leader. Haven’t heard back though.”

“…That doesn’t sound good. I’ll look into it.”

Right in that moment, they heard a screeching noise and they all looked up to see a dragon roaring out as it flew passed them. Danny’s jaw dropped as it was his first time seeing a dragon. “…Holy shit…”

“Lucky it ignored us,” Scout Harding stated and she turned to Danny, smiling with amusement as she noticed not only Danny but the two other Signum soldiers were also gawking at the flying beast. “First time seeing a dragon?”

“...Yeah… Had anyone ever thought about taming a dragon or even flying it?”

She actually laughed. “Hahaha! Riding a dragon? Taming it? That is dangerous thinking.”

“Has anyone ever tried though?”

She humored him. “No, but if there were anyone that did, they probably didn’t survive long.”

The concept was so tempting, Danny thought. It would be so much like that Temeraire series of dragon riding… though in this case, the dragons wouldn’t be able to talk.

After catching up and talking with other scouts in the camp to get a clear idea about the Storm coast, Danny headed out with the two soldiers, taking down the path. They then heard fighting down the shore coast, and sure enough, there were the Bull’s Chargers fighting against some mages in dark clothing. What were those people? Tevinter?

Danny wanted to evaluate them, watch them fight and such, but… he also wanted to join in, and looking over, he saw Jayda and Samuel readying their rifles. He took out his rifle as well, and cocked back the safety trigger. He gestured with his head and they made their way over to the fight.

He aimed right for the Tevinter mage that was about to shoot lightning, and he fired. The loud sound startled everyone there, and the mage dropped down to the ground lifelessly. Everyone was still, shocked at what just happened, but Danny and the duo continued to fire, being careful not to hit the Chargers. They kept firing until the very last Tevinter mage was down.

The Chargers stopped and all eyes were on them now.

Danny approached them, ignoring their archers aiming at him. “Easy. Name’s Danny and we’re from the Inquisition. You lot the Bull’s Chargers? I need to speak with your Chief.”

They relaxed but still they looked at him uneasy, possibly because of the rifles they were carrying. Danny put away his, slinging it around his back while the duo stood guard. In fact, they walked over to the dead Tevinters, making sure they are dead, and making small talk with the Chargers. Danny went right up to the big guy with bull like horns.

“Hmm… You’re not an elf and you don’t have the glowing hand.”

“Sorry. Were you expecting the Herald? I was sent instead by the Inquisition to evaluate you guys, just to see if it’s worth hiring you lot.” He told him, and he smiled a bit. “And so far, I think you guys may be worth it, but I need to know… why are you offering your services to the Inquisition?”

The ‘Iron Bull’ gestured for Danny to sit and they walked over to a spot to talk it over. The qunari was different from the vashoths he knew, but still similar with his surprisingly amiable nature. He may be friendly now but Danny bet the guy was probably dangerous, especially with how confident he sounded to be the Herald’s bodyguard. I mean, look at the guy. He was fucking buff.

Then there was that ‘catch’ that would always be there.

“Ever hear of the Ben-Hassrath?”

Danny stared at him. “…Please don’t tell me you’re not a spy.”

And the Qunari grinned. “Oh. So, you’ve heard of us?”

“Only that information for sure…and you’re not a really good spy.”

The Iron Bull let out a bellowing laugh that was like thunder, and it was probably wasn’t even consider loud. It was just rich. Danny waited for him to finish before the big guy cleared his throat, getting back to business. “The Ben-Hassrath are concerned about the Breach. Magic out of control like that could cause trouble everywhere. I’ve been ordered to join the Inquisition, get close to the people in charge, and send reports on what’s happening. But I also get reports from Ben-Hassrath agents all over Orlais. You sign me on, I’ll share them with your people.”

Danny would probably hear quite a lecture from the nightingale sister, but Mahanon gave him the okay that he could hire them if he believed them to be worth it. Definitely, worth it. They have a qunari spy and now they’ll get reports from them. That was sound reason, and additionally, Leliana can have access to his reports.

Half of them split up as the wounded stayed on camp while the Iron Bull, Krem, and two more chargers accompanied them to deal with these bandits.

“So!” The Iron Bull bellowed out of nowhere as they stuck close to the stone wall, watching for any rocks that might fall on them. Danny feared the big guy almost started a fucking avalanche, and with no qualms the qunari continued, “You three are from Signum then?”

Jayda and Samuel didn’t respond as they just kept their eyes open for anything. Daniel looked to them, but they weren’t interested in answering the question. Plus, he was actually the leader for this party, so…

“Yeah. We’re from Signum. The Qun knows about us?”

“From reports of a Qunari Taarbas, it mentioned you lot assisting a Hawke on collecting the swords of the Fallen Qunari from the Kirkwall Invasion.”

Danny paused, recalling the report just vaguely. They had to read the reports of other merchants if anything interesting happened, and this particular report was extremely enlightening about the Qunari culture. “Yes… a Qunari’s sword is like their ‘soul’, right? We had a couple of those swords picked up, I guess. Hawke wanted them back and we just handed them over.”

“Mm-hmmm… and then I hear you lot are now selling copies of Qunari blades.”

“Dude. They weren’t _copyrighted_ , so sue us.” Daniel easily fired back even if he confused the qunari by his words while his other two soldiers just sniggered. He only continued asking, “Yo, what’s with all the questioning? Do you have a problem with us?”

“No. No problem at all. More like a curiosity as to why a large group of humans is living inside an abandoned thaig.”

“We had no place to go?” Danny offered a reason, and it was valid at the time. It seemed strange to have nearly 700 people going into one of the cities without any warning. Plus, when they first came through, they appeared underground and they needed to set up a place immediately; the thaig was the best spot.

“Any other interrogative questions?”

“None… for now.” And that meant there will be questions later. It was Danny’s intention for sure to be a jerk and get the qunari to stop, because, honestly, he didn’t trust himself not to give away any important clues. It was enough of a warning that this Iron Bull revealed to himself as a spy, thus he needed to be pretty careful.

The rainy weather gave Danny quite the foul mood. He’d rather it was deathly snowing than this godawful weather, and it didn’t help that they were immediately attacked by bandits. These bandits also had dogs with them, so it pained him more that he had to kill off dogs. Fucking sick bastards.

The situation only got worse when they explored the cabins, finding two of their Inquisition soldiers _dead_. These were definitely the soldiers that Scout Harding said had went to see their leader, and haven’t heard back from yet. This is why they haven’t returned. Danny looked down grimly as he knelt down, inspecting their bodies. They were brutally tortured, and it looked like by bare, big hands. He lifted the chin up to see the deep bruising on the dead guy’s neck. The second had a rope still around his neck. Both died from suffocation, but they suffered a painful end as there was blood spill and broken bones.

He didn’t know these people, but there were others that have known them. A mother, a father…maybe they had a lover or some kids. They had suffered tremendously.

Danny stood back up, snarling, “Search the place!! I want to find out who exactly did this to them!”

He was pissed, and he was ready to kill a motherfucker.

The rain lifted up a bit, only a light pitter patter as they were heading now to the base of the Motherfucker. The Hessarian blades were responsible of the attack, and Danny considered killing them all off— _considered_ emphasized as these were a large group, and maybe not all of them were responsible. Scout Harding explained that they were a religious militia, and that crafting the Mercy’s Crest and with Danny wearing, it will be known as a challenge to the leader for the position so the Hessarians won’t attack him.

Yeah. Sure. Fuck it, he’ll do it.

“Danny, Sir, you better kick the bastard’s ass,” Samuel snarled under his breath as they were all approaching that base later on that day. The clouds only grew darker as these ‘bandits’ moved out of their way when they saw Danny was wearing the mercy’s crest.

The wooden gates opened up for them as they walked in, and there was a douche bag looking mercenary where the leader platform is. There’s no doubt that that guy was the head honcho in charge of this place.

Danny started taking off his rain coat and handing it over to Samuel, who took it. “He’s mine. Don’t butt in.” He told them, and they got the message.

“So, you would challenge the Blades of Hessarian?” The douche bag asked, sneering at Danny.

Danny then walked over, cracking his neck and knuckles as he was preparing to give this douche bag the beatdown of his life. “You _killed_ soldiers of the Inquisition… I won’t let it slide.”

“Ha! You want justice? Claim it.”

The Leader of the blades came right for him with an axe as he raised it up high to bring it down, but Danny was faster as he ran right towards him and delivered a high kick right at his jaw, knocking the fool back to the rock wall that had cave painting on it. Danny was upon him in seconds, disarming the axe from him as he proceeded to beat the living shit out of him. Right upper cross, jab, jab, jab, left hook—every thrown punch was hitting the big guy directly right in the face. When the Leader tried to attack by throwing a punch, Danny docked under and just delivered another blow right at the nose. He was wearing gloves with brass knuckles on them, but still his fists should be feeling raw… though the anger and the adrenaline dulled any pain.

The Iron Bull was about to step in when he saw two mabari mutts coming right for Danny, but then shots were fired. Both Sam and Jayda shot down the big dogs, much to their regret in doing so but it had to be done. Danny didn’t even break away after hearing the shots, he just continued giving the beating of his lifetime on the Hessarian leader, even to the point where his face was all bloody and disarranged. It was a little difficult to tell if all that blood was from the Hessarian Leader’s broken face, or Danny’s knuckles.

Danny was killing the guy with just his hands.

“Andraste’s tits, Chief…” Krem said quietly under his breath as they could only watch him.

For Danny, the beating was surely satisfying as he could only imagine what must have been like for those soldiers that were murdered. He had seen the wounds on them and the physical violence done. He was going to make sure that this psychopath will suffer through everything he put them through—double the agony. He was only sorry he couldn’t throw him in a pit so he could die in starvation.

He forced the tyrant unto his knees, and grappled around his neck. With one twisted movement, he broke the bandit leader’s neck, creating a crunching noise.

It was over.

.

Danny took the first half hour reprimanding the Hessarian Blades as if saying they weren’t responsible, when they are, because they decided to turn their heads away instead of helping. Shame on them. He told them they should be brave enough to do what’s right. The Iron bull was pretty much impressed by this agent of both Inquisition and Signum. He wondered if Signum was working with the Inquisition, but he’ll have to see for it himself.

After the Hessarian Blades made their alliance clear to the Inquisition, they decided to return to camp.

From there, curiosity only increased when Signum started putting up a large open canopy tent, and they had this table that was foldable as well as the chair. They simply called it a folding table and folding chair. Easy to transport. They then propped up this metal box with strange devices attached to it.

When they turned it on, it made this strange, alien static sounds. The curiosity was just way too much, and Dalish noted there wasn’t any sort of magic involved with it, so most of them got closer to watch them work. And it wasn’t only the chargers’ curiosity that was piqued, it was Scout Harding and the Inquisition scouts as well. Danny had told her to have her report ready to read aloud as they set up the ‘frequencies’ to set up communication.

Danny started, “This is _Pinocchio_ calling _Black Pearl_ , do you copy? Over.”

There was some silence on the other end and everyone, other than the signum people, were shocked to hear when a voice responded.

_ “Pinocchio, this is Black Pearl, Kano speaking. What is your status? Over.” _

“Kano, let the Spymaster know that we’ve hired the Chargers, and that we’ve took care of the bandit problem. They’re called Hessarian Blades and they’ve pledged their services to the Inquisition after I killed their leader. Over.”

Paused, and after a few moments, Kano replied, _“The Spymaster is here and is listening. We had just talked to_ Goldilocks _not too long ago.”_

Danny guffawed at that, despite the looks he got. Oh. Mahanon’s party was named _Goldilocks_ , that is rich!

He cleared his throat after regaining his composure as he gestured Harding to come a little closer to speak to the mic. “Copy that. I have Scout Harding here to report.”

Scout Harding hesitated before she relayed the information and anything else private would still be sent to her via ravens/crows. They were crows, right? Danny wondered. Either way, they have voiced out this convenience of letting someone know instantaneously without having to wait for long. This would be beneficial if they needed something urgently delivered. If possible, Danny could have Leliana’s scouts trained to handle the radio equipment and maybe even possibly set it up themselves.

After reporting, Leliana wanted to speak to Danny, mentioning about a warden. Danny knew what wardens were since Anders was one, but he didn’t voice that out. Instead, he listened and the Spymaster wanted him to go and speak to this Warden Blackwall and to find out the whereabouts of other wardens. It was implied that they may have been involved with this, or maybe not at all, but usually when disastrous times come, they would appear. So, what happened?

Danny promised Leliana to check it out himself as well as sending the Bull’s chargers on their way back to Haven.

.

They travelled halfway before they had to separate. The Chargers had a lot of fun with the jeep before some of them got car sick. They weren’t driving too fast, going only at a snail pace, but it was surely different from horse-riding. Krem described it to be a death trap, and he wasn’t wrong.

When they separated, Sam and Jayda took the jeep with them and the rest of the chargers while Donnic enlisted Bull to travel to the Hinterlands.

The Qunari’s company wasn’t too bad so long as there wasn’t a lot of questioning. The idea of the Qun being interested in Signum was a little unnerving, especially everything he heard from Inera and the Valo-Kas mercenaries, but…

“So, you Signum often run in with Qunari often?” Bull asked.

Danny withheld a sigh. Here come the questions. “No. Just the same ones: a Vashoth mercenary group. Fun bunch.”

“Ahh, so that’s why you weren’t a bit scared seeing me.”

“Haha, I know someone else scarier.” _Sudoku_. He thought.

“Other than yourself?” The Bull questioned. “That was some show you displayed yesterday. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought you were Qunari turning Tal-Vashoth. The insane part… but you were calculative. You had complete control over your rage that you even docked and dodge any incoming attack that the Bandit tried to throw at you—which is highly impressive.”

Daniel slowly nodded. “Uh huh… Thanks? The guy deserved it.”

The Bull didn’t stop there as he started questioning where Danny learned such techniques or how he even learned how to fight. The young lad had managed to beat the fuck out of a monster that was twice the size of him. His knuckles were still sore from the beatdown he laid out, but it was worth it.

Then he went out asking about the radio and Daniel explained to him the contraption with highly sophisticated words—well, not too sophisticated but definitely with words not introduced yet to the Thedas dictionary, which caused the Qunari to raise a brow. Daniel could only laugh at him, jokingly jabbing to try and add that to his report.

Either way, he was getting along well with the Qunari spy.

.

When they found Blackwall, they had more questions than they had answers received. Even this Warden didn’t know what happen to the other wardens, and Danny doubted that even if he called Anders, the mage probably wouldn’t know anyway. He did say he left the order a long time ago.

Arriving back at Haven, Danny was greeted with a surprise when a snow ball was chucked right at the side of his face. Bull burst out in uproarious laughter and even Blackwall failed to hold back a laugh. Danny just stood there, mostly stunned by the cold attack and when he turned to the side where there was another laughter, it was coming from none other than Arnav Patel.

“You bastard!” Danny called out and Arnav only fell on the snow, laughing harder.

“You! Hahahahahah! You didn’t dodge it!”

“I didn’t even see it!”

They all went their separate ways and Danny went over to Arnav.

Arnav thought that he was ready to punch and so he held his hands up. “Hey man, that snowball was only fair. I thought you and Mahanon died!”

Danny rolled his eyes at him as he offered his hand out to him. Arnav grasped and they pulled in for a bro hug before parting. “Good to see you too,” Danny said. “Where’s Sudoku?”

“Oh yeah… about that…” Arnav hesitated as he gestured Danny to follow to somewhere else private so they could speak far from the earshot of anyone listening, including elves. Elves had pretty good hearing, almost like cats.

Once they were a far distance away, being able to see Haven and the Signum Cavalry camping out, Danny inquired, “What’s going on?”

“Remember, _Dr. Rontgen?_ ” Arnav asked in a whispering voice.

Danny grimaced in disgust. “Yeah. The fucker is in jail, right?”

“Right, he still is, but somehow, he’s been contacting Dr. Nguyen.”

Danny’s blood ran cold, hearing the news, and he grabbed his buddy by the arm. “ _What?_ How??”

“…I think we may have a few rats in Signum. We think it might be our traders going outside and such, and… the first sign is that our trading caravan that went for Tantervale a month ago had gone missing… I think they’re our rats.”

He frowned. “Are you sure?”

“Adrian and Sudoku were tracking them until they lost them at the docks at Ostwick. They asked the dock workers there, and they said some Signum people paid good money to get to Highever.”

Daniel took a step back. “…So, they’re somewhere here then? In Ferelden? …Dr. Nguyen could be here in Ferelden? …Did the caravan take anything?”

Arnav had this grim look on his face. They were just laughing a while ago over a snowball, and now they were discussing something direr than that. “Yeah… all the experiments? The data on the multitude of projects including ours? They’re all gone.”

“…Shit.”

This was not good.

.

.

.


	15. Giving Arnav a Tour Around Haven

 

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.

Daniel showed Arnav around Haven. The place was nice enough if not a little too vulnerable. Arnav was right. Other than the wooden fence around Haven, it was little protection against an invasion. This was a town after all, not a fort. It would be ideal for an Inquisition like this to be in a castle somewhere else.

Other than that, the beginnings of this institution were humble.

Daniel questioned more about the situation with Dr. Nguyen and Dr. Rontgen, but Arnav insisted that they wait for Mahanon since this had to do more with Sudoku, and plus the elf was part of the team now. Danny had heard from Leliana that they would be back before sunset, so for now, he took Arnav to the chantry to talk with Lady Josephine. They were supposed to set up the supply line from here to a Signum Dock Warehouse in one of Denerim’s seaports.

They find her in her office, writing away letters. She paused from her work, looking up with curiosity before greeting them a warm smile. “Good day to you, gentlemen. May I help you with something?”

“Wow…” Arnav awed and Danny glanced at him, giving him a strange look, but his friend just continued, “Your smile… it is like the sun breaking through the clouds.”

Danny’s jaw went slack in shock and Josephine slipped him a curious glance. Arnav only continued, “And your eyes sparkle like when the ocean reflects the stars at night.”

Danny’s jaw dropped even more. What the fuck? Was he not embarrassed saying such words?

“O-Oh…Hahaha…” Her cheeks were painted red, flushing embarrassingly from the words coming out of Arnav’s mouth. “Why, thank you, sir…?”

“Arnav.” He introduced himself with his voice deepened as he approached her, and she stood immediately. He reached out for her hand and she let him, only for him to placed a kiss on her knuckles.

“Arnav Patel.” He finished with James Bond move. “And you?”

Josephine flushed even more as she pulled her hand away, giggling—actually giggling nervously! The fucking bastard! Did he want to die? If Leliana was here… She would definitely shiv him from behind.

“Josephine Montilyet.” She said with as much coy. “Ambassador of the Inquisition.”

“Ambassador? That is quite a huge role to fill, but I suppose that means your _quill_ must be mightier than a blade.”

Josie giggled more. “Indeed. Now is there something that I may help you with, Lord Patel?”

“Oh, Arnav will be just fine, My Lady Josephine—”

“Trade!” Daniel cut in, ending this Twilight zone ‘Romeo and Juliet’ scenario as he stepped right in between, letting them know that they weren’t exactly alone, and he was still present. “My father had mentioned that we would set up a supply line from Denerim to here in Haven? Arnav is in charge of that. He’ll be making sure that the Inquisition will be well-equipped and supplied with affordable prices.”

Arnav cleared his throat. “O-Oh, yes. Yes, I am here for that. Pardon me.”

He then took off his backpack, and Josephine was admiring the carrying pouch until he opened it and took out an order magazine. He handed it to her. “Here you go, My Lady. Inside is a list of what we carry and sell, of course, written in common and—”

“This… this is such fine paper, and the writing and pictures! It is like printed on a book, but better!” She exclaimed. Never mind the text, her hand ran through the slick paper that was so much different from the rough texture of papyrus.

Arnav threw her a charming smile. “We can requisition this paper as well. Blank paper and a huge bulk of it for just 50 coppers. The Inquisition should feel privileged as most of the items on this list have not been approved for _public_ trading. That means you guys get exclusive items.”

Danny then started to wonder if Arnav was just being suave salesperson, because he was definitely luring in Josephine and showcasing every item on the magazine, explaining each one—at least the ones that needed to be enlightened. Danny even peeked over and was surprised to see matchboxes, pencils, letter papers, spices, painkillers, clothing—His eyes widened when he saw the women lingerie on the page.

““W-what is this?” Josephine asked, a little horrified.

“Oh this? This is uhmm… ahem…” Even Arnav was having difficulty explaining this part. “I-It’s… a bra. It…umm…you know…” He gestured towards his own chest area, before adding, “For women only of course.”

“…Why did they add that?” Danny questioned. “…I mean… there are sizes on that, but…we’re not actually experienced or well-equipped to measure sizes, Arnav.”

Arnav was flushing now, perhaps a bit embarrassed as he took the magazine from Josephine before tearing off the page from the magazine. He kept the page and handed the magazine back to the Ambassador.

“My apologies… It wasn’t necessarily my idea.”

Josie just gave him a sympathetic smile. “All is forgiven, Sir Arnav. I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it up to me, perhaps through discounts?”

Danny watched in awe as the Lady Ambassador managed to turn the tables on Arnav, and in the end, he managed to secure the first order of many things with the prices lowered. Honestly, Danny had really nothing to worry about as Josephine seem to be as cutthroat with her words like Leliana was with a shiv, but with more finesse and etiquette language. He had caught Arnav glancing at him for help, but hey, he got he himself into this, he might as well try to get himself out of it. The first order had been written, but Josephine promised to order more as she would show the magazine to Leliana and Cullen.

As they were walking out of the chantry, Danny started laughing at Arnav and poking fun at him.

Arnav shoved his shoulder. “Quiet!”

“And your lips are red as roses. You must be an angel sent by god! Hahahaha!” Daniel continued to mock him. “What was that??”

“Hey! I learned it when I was securing a trading spot at Cumberland, and the owner there was a woman so I had to woo my way in. You know? It worked for a while.”

Danny shook his head at him for his silliness. “You’re just lucky Leliana wasn’t there to shiv you.”

“Who?” Arnav raised a brow at him.

Daniel tried to explain to him who Leliana was, and after hearing the townspeople and of her reputation as well as Mahanon’s account on her, the Spymaster is a badass that no one should mess with. Unfortunately, Arnav had no clue how close Josie was to the Bard and warned him only to watch his back. Arnav shrugged him off nonchalantly, scoffing at him… Oh well.

They arrived at the tavern passed sunset and they settled in one of the tables. Arnav was giddy, looking around him before leaning into whisper to Danny, “It’s like playing _Skyrim_.”

Danny rolled his eyes at him. “You still play that video game? Isn’t it the same thing over and over?”

“Yeah, but like, it’s still a cool game, plus, I’ve never been to a tavern. In the game, there would only be like five or six NPC’s in a tavern, and here it’s crowded. It’s _real_. Look, they have tankards!” He said excitedly, trying to only whisper. Seriously, he was acting like a schoolgirl. “Plus, this is my first time in a tavern. You can never trust places like this here in the Medieval world, I mean, what if they poison you? At least here, you actually trust this place.”

Danny just shook his head at him. “Yeah. Whatever Arnav. Hey, did you know I saw a dragon in the Storm Coast?”

Arnav leaned in, “Oooh! Did you go fight it? Did you _fus-ro-dah_ it?”

“Arnav. Shut up.” Danny tried not to smile as his friend kept going with the Skyrim references, but Arnav did just laugh at him before gesturing his leader to continue. Danny pressed on, “It was big… and honestly, it was fucking terrifying. There’s also one in the Hinterlands to which Mahanon said we’d need to take it out, once we had enough people, _but_ since _you_ are here, I was hoping you can requisition us a ballista on a truck.”

Arnav raised a brow. “…Ballista? You mean like a giant crossbow? On a truck?”

“A red truck. Really badass monster truck. Absolutely fire-resistant is required in this.”

“…Hmm, that might take a month to make.”

“But it’s possible?”

“Totally. I’m sure the RML can think of something.”

There was a momentary pause after that was affirmed, and Arnav started chuckling out of nowhere. Daniel raised a questioning brow as his friend waved him off, explaining himself, “It’s ridiculous… Skyrim reacts to dragons as ‘Come at me, Bro!’… while Thedas’ reactions to dragons are… _‘Everybody fucking run!’_ Hahaha!”

Even Danny couldn’t help but laugh at that ridiculousness.

The door opened and there were some gasps and apologies as people moved out of the way of the person that entered. Mahanon walked in and he was waving them off, saying it’s alright. People were still pretty much awestruck of the guy and was treating him like some kind of deity…hence Herald of Andraste. Mahanon then saw Arnav and walked over to their table, but frowned seeing that there was someone missing.

Arnav then stood, and held his arms out. “Dude! Didn’t you miss me?”

“Pfft. No. Where’s Sudoku?” Mahanon asked still looking around for her while Arnav gawked, acting like he was devastated.

Danny only laughed at him and in the end, Mahanon smirked and he held his hand out for Arnav to take. “It is good to see you again, Arnav.”

“Yeah, I knew you would!” Arnav grasped his hand and pulled him into a bro hug. They then parted before taking their seats down in the table. Of course, the trio ignored the confused looks from their spectators in the tavern. It isn’t a gesture that was medieval like, but does Signum care? Nope.

“Where’s Cassandra?” Danny asked casually as he took a drink.

Arnav turned to him, not hearing this Cassandra before while Mahanon paused, giving him a strange look. After a moment, he answered, “Cassandra is at the Chantry. Josephine is showing her, Cullen, and Leliana of the magazine that Arnav had given to her. I haven’t seen what was on it yet, because I had to go and see Arnav.”

“What did you need to see me for?” Arnav asked before Mahanon delivered a well deserved backhanded smack on his shoulder.

“Ow!”

 “For Sudoku, of course. Where is she?”

“Daaaaamn, did you develop her violent trait?” Arnav questioned, but then he saw the elf’s impatient glare and he hurried to answer, “Alright, alright… but we need to go somewhere else to talk. Maybe your cabin? You know, away from prying ears?”

At that suggestion, they all had gotten up and moved to Mahanon’s cabin to talk. It was a little obvious that they were going to talk something private especially when Mahanon told the guard that was posted in the area not to let anyone in disturb in the meantime. The Guard stiffened, and he probably thought it was some holy mission…or Mahanon was into some kinky shit. Danny just pursed his lips trying not to laugh at the weird thought. When they got inside, Mahanon questioned what was so humorous, and Danny gave him a quick explanation, earning him a well-deserved backhanded smack to the shoulder as well.

“Ow! Damn, you are getting violent.”

Mahanon rolled his eyes at them. “No, I’m just surprised Sudoku hasn’t throttled both of you to death in all these years.”

“…There was that one time she nearly killed you in Kindergarten. Remember that, Danny?” Arnav brought it up and Danny only trembled. Back at those youthful days, Danny was a more annoying, snotty-nose brat—like _really, really annoying_, and Sudoku was a hella lot more violent as a child than she was today. No one even trusted her with dull, kid-proof scissors because the teacher was sure she’ll find a way to make it hurt.

Danny grimaced as he recalled the horrifying weapon. “She was trying to flatten me with a chair—”

“Please. Danny. Arnav. You two are stalling!” Mahanon interrupted as he was getting a little more anxious.

The two agents exchanged looks before gesturing for Mahanon to sit and they all settled down in his cabin room. Arnav took a deep breath in and out, and Danny noted the situation may be more dire than he had thought if his friend was stalling for this long, not wanting to talk about it.

“Did Sudoku already fill you in of… all the shit that happened six years ago?”

Mahanon nodded gravely and he frowned. “Is this about Dr. Nguyen again?”

Arnav’s brows knitted. “Yeah… See, before we heard about the Conclave explosion, Kristoff and Dr. Belle were trying to restart a project that was forbidden by the Commander… Project Blight. It was a highly controversial and dangerous project that could put Signum in jeopardy, because they were capturing live test subjects—Darkspawns… Dr. Nguyen was head of the project and the goal was to find a cure for the blight.”

The Dalish elf’s brows raised at that. “…why did your father forbid it?” He asked, turning to Danny.

Danny glowered at the question and it wasn’t Mahanon’s fault. “ _Because_ that was only Dr. Nguyen’s cover-up from all the other illegal and _inhumane_ experiments he did behind my father’s back… why is Dr. Belle restarting the project?”

Arnav sighed, knowing Danny would be upset to hear this but he continued, “Because it was an altruistic motivation, Danny. She and including other scientists at the time believed they were trying to find a cure for the blight, and from her recollection, they were close. They were ready to go to the human trial stage… And since Kristoff is a grey warden and has the taint in him, he was more than willing to participate as one of the first to go into experimental trials.”

Fucking Anders. Danny thought as he got up to pace. Bad memories were coming back and Arnav even paused to let his leader calm down.

Mahanon watched his friend, frowning, but he prompted Arnav to continue, “Did they get approval?”

“They did, but it had to be under wraps. So anyway, Dr. Belle went to take out the files that were sealed away in a terminal, but all the data, the experiments, and the projects were gone… It seemed like all the files were transferred out after Dr. Belle and Kristoff were given the green-lit on the project. Right after we found out that the files were missing…”

Arnav then slowly stood up, turning to Daniel. “And Danny, don’t be angry, I kind lied to you…but Dr. Rontgen escaped.”

Danny halted in his steps before slowly turning to his friend, his eyes wide and his face covered in disbelief. “…What…?”

Arnav winced. “…I lied… Dr. Rontgen isn’t in jail anymore. He escaped with the rats that I mentioned before—the trade caravan that went to Tantervale...”

“…Are you telling me that…by this time now… Dr. Rontgen and Dr. Nguyen may already be…somewhere plotting, conducting experiments, and doing god knows what? …Hahahaha!” Danny cracked up as he turned around, unable to believe what he was hearing. That or his mind was not prepare to how fucked up that is.

Mahanon also stood up. “…Danny--?”

“That is _bullshit!!_ ” Danny roared out, filled with rage. His fists dangerously tightened. He really wanted to break something, or maybe get a prisoner and just pummel his face into brainy bits. He had never been so angry since… “Is Sudoku after them? She went after them, right?!”

Arnav shook his head. “I mean yeah, she was but… you know, Adrian can’t even find Dr. Nguyen, and since Adrian could no longer see where Dr. Rontgen is, well… we lost the trail… Sudoku and Adrian are coming back here to Haven as we speak… Sorry Danny.”

“ _FUCK!_ My father should have sent the cavalry after that bastard!! Why is he just letting them get away with this?!” Danny demanded and unable to control his anger any longer, he threw a fist towards the wall and broke right through the log, leaving hole.

“Danny!” Mahanon scolded.

“Why didn’t he tell me?!” Danny asked turning to the two. “I thought he and I were passed this! But no! He’s still trying to keep in the dark, thinking he’s protecting me when he’s only leaving us vulnerable to a monster that will eventually get us! He’s leaving us unprepared again!”

At this point, Danny was talking about his father. They had talked not too long ago, so why didn’t he tell him then? Did his father not understand how dangerous Dr. Nguyen is, especially now that he had Dr. Rontgen and all the data files? What was wrong with his father? He recalled their conversation that his father did not want to hear him dying again, but…

Danny started walking out, slamming the door open, “I cannot believe this _bullshit!!_ ”

His yell startled the guard and he got out of Danny’s way as Danny marched outside of Haven, finding somewhere to cool off and recollect himself. Eventually, he found himself in the wood camp near this abandoned cabin and started chopping wood. He needed to understand the situation and figure out what to do next. Should he leave Haven and find Dr. Nguyen? But where would he start? Huh. He bet the fool would be in another abandoned thaig somewhere, close to all the Darkspawns he can experiment with, but also close enough to civilization where he can pick people off the roads.

Resentment built inside Danny. It was always there, but it only seemed to grow more with his father’s indifference in this whole situation. Danny just couldn’t understand his father’s intention, and without any clear communication from him, he could only assume that his father didn’t care much, just like before… His fists tightened as his childhood memories rose up. He and twenty-four other kids were hand-selected to be in the AA-program. It was like being in an academy but more. He considered them all his brothers and sisters: Arnav, Adrian, Sudoku, Celine, Raj—all of them. Together, they were all in this program that was preparing them for future designated roles. Their whole lives were decided for them right off the bat. It was no wonder that most of them had behavioral problems after being in such a strict program. Combat training, rigorous academic classes, weapons training, and all sorts. Their teachers were preparing them to be the best soldiers, agents, and leaders.

A whole lot more pressure was given to Danny when it was said many times before by the adults that he was to follow his father’s footsteps and lead Signum. He didn’t want such a position, because he feared he wouldn’t be able to live up to it, and even now, he was still uncertain. Otherwise, the others also had high expectancies to meet from their parents. The bar was set high even though no one had really overcome it.

Everything fell apart when Dr. Nguyen trapped them in that dwarven room and doused them all in this unknown chemical. Danny still wasn’t sure what it was all about but… six of out twenty-five of them survived. He had to watch his friends die one by one in that med lab, either slowly passing away, or screaming in agony before dying out of nowhere. It was painful to watch. It was even more jarring that Dr. Rontgen have had a hand in all their deaths… He and Dr. Nguyen had been working together after all these years, even when that bastard was in prison…

“You’re chopping wood? At this time?”

Danny paused as he turned around, seeing Cassandra there with her arms crossed as she was looking at him with an incredulous look.

His lips pulled to a small smile. “Yeah… Figured now was the best time for it.”

“Are you not freezing?” She inquired, walking over to him closer, and Danny looked down to see that he was only wearing a shirt. He had taken his jacket off earlier and hung it at the bunch of logs.

“Well, now I am,” he admitted as he went to grab his thick jacket. He was done chopping wood for the night. Putting on the jacket, he felt his muscles tear a bit and he winced. He must have overworked himself.

Cassandra gave him a look and he merely waved her off as he sat at the wooden fence.

She sauntered closer, arms crossed. “You left a hole in the Herald’s wall… Are you two fighting?”

He gaped at her, “What? No! No, we’re not. It was just…something else. Signum business.”

“Signum business?”

“Uh-huh.”

The Seeker waited to see if Daniel would explain some more but the silence dragged on, and instead, she prompted another question. “…Does this _business_ have the potential to hinder the Inquisition efforts?”

Another long moment of silence until he uttered out. “…It might.”

Cassandra’s frown deepened, nose cringing. “Danny! You need to tell us anything that could be important. We don’t want another incident such as when your Corporal fired these pepper bombs at our soldiers. The next one could be worse than the misunderstanding! If we are not prepared—”

“A criminal is on the loose.” Daniel cut her off and she paused to listen as he stared right at her. “…Two, actually. One got away six years ago, and the other escaped recently. We believe those two may have met up by now and are probably plotting something like mad villains in a dark, damp lair… And they are somewhere here in either Ferelden or Orlais… We don’t really know… what makes them dangerous, Seeker, is that they have our equipment… What are Signum traitors going to do with all the dangerous weapons and _knowledge_ that we have?”

He could see the concern look in her eyes. “…What is Signum doing to catch them?” She asked.

Danny shook his head. “…They had sent people to get them, but… they got away, and now we’re figuring out what to do… how to find them. We don’t actually have any of our people out here in Ferelden or even in Orlais yet…”

Cassandra crossed her arms. “If they are like you Signum, then perhaps we can ask Leliana and even Josephine to keep open ears on any Signum activity where there shouldn’t be.”

Danny blinked at that, turning to the Seeker. “Really? And then you’ll tell me as soon as any of you hear of one?”

“We will. You Signum are dangerous. You have objects we’ve never seen before, and the Herald had already admitted that you all are not from around Thedas, and that’s even more questionable, but… I’ve known you for a while now, Daniel. You are trustworthy. Reckless and foolish, but trustworthy.”

He saw her smile a bit and he grinned back at her, “I may be foolish, but you are just as reckless, Seeker.”

“I am not! I am… brash, and that is it.” She said with a dignified humph as she turned to walk away. Danny grinned wider as he rushed to catch up to her pace.

“Oh, come on, don’t be like that! You know, you’re kinda like Wonder woman.”

“Who is this _Wonder Woman?_ ”

“Who is _Wonder Woman,_ are you kidding me? She is the absolute powerful half-deity who saves the world---she’s not real, but she is well-known in Signum. Everyone knows her and her story.”

Danny started telling the Seeker about Wonder Woman, basing it off from an old earth movie-remake of 2017, as they walk back to the Chantry in Haven.

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	16. Cellphone In the Fade

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Past

Screw Dad.

Screw Hudson.

Screw every last one of them.

19-year-old Danny huffed and puffed as he traversed through thick forest of nature, following this old Thedas map that should be taking him to Wycome. It will take several weeks, but he knew enough to survive that long. He didn’t train since the day he was born to be killed by a wild animal or even a group of bandits.

Danny had run away from Signum four days ago. He had snuck out around 1 am when the guard on duty had fallen asleep after Danny deactivated the alarms temporarily. He couldn’t handle it anymore with what his father had done to him. And honestly, he felt a bit of a dickhead, leaving his friends, but he just couldn’t… He couldn’t be the leader that his father needed him to be, not after what happened.

They went down from twenty-five to six people only.

He lost them. It was his fault.

A low growl emitted from his stomach and he checked the time, grimacing. It was the mid afternoon and he did not want to eat a full dinner unless he needed to. Plus, maybe he should start hunting?

Danny took out an apple from his backpack and munched on it as he continued hiking. He’ll hunt later, he thought. If he sees a good small kill, like a rabbit, he’ll take it. Or a nug. Nug tastes weird, but Danny was smart because he took all the spices he needed to make dinner taste good. Yup. He was all by himself, out to explore this big world called Thedas. No father to hold him back, he was a new man!

A lone wanderer…

There was a twig that snapped and Danny turned, his hand reaching for the pistol but he stopped seeing that it was a deer. A miniature white deer with golden horns and gold undercoat. Huh. Definitely the thing was too big for him to kill and eat.

It went up to him curiously, snorting. What a brave deer.

Danny saw that it was eyeing his apple and he knelt down, holding it out to the white deer.

“Here. It’s just an apple.”

The deer snorted at him like it was telling him ‘you think?’ before it bit off a huge chunk of the apple. Yup. Danny wasn’t getting his apple back. He gave the rest of it to the white deer.

“Hey. Any nugs around that I could eat? So that I don’t eat you?”

The white deer huffed then it started trotting away. Danny shrugged and he was about to continue, but he heard the hooves thump on the ground. He looked back to see the white deer staring hard at him. What the…

“You want me to follow you?” Danny questioned. This was crazy. Did the deer even understand?

The deer trotted a few steps before thumping the ground again, looking at Danny and expecting him to follow.

Holy shit.

Crazy enough, Danny followed the white deer. It would wait for him to catch up before trotting ahead again. All the while, Danny was speculating this whole event. It was just strange and weird to follow an animal through the forest. It wasn’t like they were smart or anything, and yet, this one was clearly communicating with him. What kind of deer is this?

He kept following until the sun was setting down, and he was getting more hungry and tired.

“Hey. Are we almost there, _Traveler_?” Danny asked, getting a little cranky now as the white deer kept insisting him to follow. He started calling the white deer ‘Traveler’ because he couldn’t just keep calling it white deer.

Traveler stumped on the ground, somewhat telling Danny to hurry up. He let out a long, tired groan as he trudged on forward…

…Until an arrow stopped him in its tracks.

He pulled out his gun, aiming at the direction where the arrow came out, and

“Come out! Show yourself, Coward!” Danny said and someone did come out, perhaps not knowing how dangerous a gun is.

Then a figure stepped outside in this leather and fur garments, and his face tattoo glowed under dense shade of the trees. The guy had a bow and arrow aimed right directly for him.

“What is that supposed to be?” He asked, wary of the item he was holding.

Danny knew these primitives wouldn’t know anything about pistols. “Wanna find out, son? Come at me!”

That provoked the bow-wielding person and before things would get worse, Traveler got in between and he stumped on the ground. The figure was taken back and he lowered his bow, looking at the golden white deer with a confused look.

Danny felt a bit relieved that he wasn’t the only crazy person listening to a deer.

“…Shira knows you?” The stranger asked.

“Shira? Is this your deer?” Danny asked, lowering his gun now, ignoring the bow and arrow since the deer was protecting him.

The tattooed-face figure frowned. “She is a _halla_. Not a deer, shem… Now explain what you’re doing here.”

Ah, so Traveler or Shira is a girl.

Danny sighed. “Traveler led me here.”

“ _Traveler?_ ”

“Shira. Whatever. I’m tired and I’m hungry. And so far, she’s been leading me through a wild goose chase. So if it’s all the same to you, I’m gonna keep walking. Just point me to the direction of Wycome and I’ll be on my way, forget all this ever happened.” Danny will have to go and look for food now. Gods. Why did he even follow the deer? Halla. Sheep. Whatever.

The figure eyed at him before pointing east. Danny politely nodded and was about to walk away when the halla, Traveler, went up to him and bit his jacket, pulling him back.

“Hey! Let go. I don’t have any more apples. You ate my last one!”

Traveler didn’t let go, even as Danny tried to tug his jacket back.

Then the figure spoke, “You said you were hungry? I have some extra food.”

Danny blinked and the halla then let go of him and trotted away, passed the figure. Oh… He saw what the hall did there as he understood, the halla wanted him to eat.

“Uhm… sure if you don’t mind sharing.”

The figure raised a brow at him. “Not at all. This way.”

When the figure turned sideways, that’s when Danny noticed the ears. They were long and pointy. Elf… holy shit, the reports weren’t really lying about fantasy creatures like dwarves and elves are living in Thedas. That was cool.

He followed him to the small camp were traveler had already settled near a patch of grass. There was a ram being cooked over the flames of the campfire, and once settled, Danny dug in with gusto. The elf watched with amusement as he handed another loaf of bread to Danny to go with that meat.

“When did you last eat?”

“This morning.”

“And you didn’t go hunting?”

“I was going to, but Traveler—or Shira brought me here instead. We’ve been walking for a few hours now.”

“…Huh… it’s funny that you named her Traveler.”

“Hmmm? Why?”

“Shira means _to journey_.”

Danny chuckled at the coincidence and the elf joined him.

They fell into quiet dining as night shrouded the area, and the noises of nature switched to crickets, owls, and the fire crackling. The elf added another log into the fire, keeping it alive. Traveler had nestled into the patch of grass, lying down and tucked in to sleep in this early night.

The young teen paused from eating. “…I’m Danny.”

And the elf stared at him before answering, “…Mahanon.”

“Thanks for the food, Mahanon.”

“You are welcome.”

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Present

The next early morning before dawn would even rise, Danny was now feeling like a dickhead as he went to Mahanon’s cabin. He found Arnav already there, just about to knock on the elf’s door.

“…Is your temper in check now?”

“Yeah… shut up.”

Arnav held his hands up, wearing a smile that annoyed Danny, as his friend backed up, gestured him to knock on the door first.

Danny sighed as he did so, pounding on it twice. Moments later, Mahanon came out in his running gear and stared at Danny for a while before asking, “Are you here to apologize for the hole in the wall?”

“I am here to apologize for the hole in the wall…Sorry…and now I’m here to drag you through the snow and make you lose weight until you’re nothing but a toothpick.”

Mahanon rolled his eyes at him as he walked out, closing the door behind him.

Arnav joined them, despite that he travelled far yesterday. This was routine that they have done for years on end since they were young teens, so breaking it out of it was out of the question. Mahanon likely never had any choice even if he did come back last night, travelling from Val Royeaux. Danny and Mahanon took Arnav through the usual track around Haven and its rolling hills. Freshly snow had fallen, thus some of the terrain was thicker to go through.

After running five kilometers, they made it back to Haven, and there was Kano and the Signum Cavalry unit, training as well, running in formation around the walls of Haven. To their surprise, there were some Inquisition soldiers with them.

“Kano’s training Inquisition Soldiers?” Danny asked. “And why do they look beat up?”

Sure enough, a couple of them had a black eye, and their faces didn’t really look too good.

“Something must have happened. Where’s Cullen?” Mahanon asked.

Speak of the devil, they could hear him shouting orders already as the new recruits started on their training regime. They were starting to get earlier and earlier too. They jogged over to Cullen, who in turn, faced them properly.

“Hey, are those your soldiers training with Kano?” Danny asked.

Cullen nodded. “Yes. They caused an incident last night, harassing some of your female soldiers. Although they did get the beating of their lifetime, truly I think they deserved a proper punishment. So, I informed Corporal Kano about it and that the soldiers would be highly reprimanded through flogging, but he suggested something else different. Two weeks of grueling training.”

Danny didn’t worry too much about the female soldiers. He was sure that the ladies had kick ass for those soldiers’ stupidity. Still… “Yeah… Flogging is a little harsh, man. And no offence, it’s a little barbaric.”

Cullen tried not to roll his eyes. “And what do you think is a fitting punishment?”

“Grueling training like they are suffering through right now, but I think Kano is gonna run them through worse courses than just running…”

Mahanon chuckled. “Poor unfortunate souls.”

“Like you?” Danny smirked. “We just got done running. Time to do more combat and weapons training.”

The Herald groaned disdainfully, causing the others to laugh. Mahanon didn’t like training, but he wouldn’t refuse. He’ll complain but he wasn’t going to refuse.

As they trained, they were gathering a lot of spectators, especially when they started sparring more seriously. They had borrowed some head gear and protective equipment from the Cavalry, allowing the three to spar more freely and take more risks. While Arnav and Mahanon were fighting with staff weapons, Danny noticed some of their friends not too far away. They were watching with keen interest, especially Bull and the Chargers.

Krem approached him first. “Your resident mage said that this was an everyday thing?”

Danny nodded. “Yeah… Yo, Mahanon, switch your feet!”

The Herald paused, looking down, but it gave Arnav the opportunity to attack as he swung. Luckily, the Dalish elf saw him coming (after a few times falling for that trick) and jumped up to avoid the staff that was going to sweep him off his feet. He switched his feet position, getting back into offensive stance, and collided with Arnav, their staves hitting. Mahanon knocked him back and swept him off his feet with the staff. Arnav fell to the ground, groaning.

“Did you call him on purpose??” Krem asked incredulously. It did look like they were trying to trick the Herald.

“Hey. A battle isn’t fair sometimes.” Daniel explained to him and after a moment, he added, “Plus, our former trainers were bitches like that… But they had the right idea. Vigilance. One has to be aware of everything even when they’re not looking.”

“Huh. That’s some ridiculous training.”

“Right? But it’s working.”

Danny then took this chance to look around, and saw the impressed looks on everyone of what Mahanon did. It wasn’t intentional for Danny to raise the reputation of his friend, but it is rather convenient, especially when the Herald was doing well. Perhaps, it was the battles out on the Hinterlands that was making him quite an expert. Battle knowledge, his father called it.

…Though why stop there?

Danny picked up his staff and rushed forward from behind the Herald.

That alerted the others around them watching, but truly they had nothing to fear.

As if Mahanon heard him coming, he turned his body and with his staff, curbing Arnav’s, he managed to block Danny’s attack to the head. Three staves collided with a clang and it started to shake and tremble as they were forcing it to a standstill. Both Arnav and Daniel exchanged looks then they turned to Mahanon, grinning at him evilly.

Mahanon flinched but then he looked more determined to take them down.

“ARGH!” Mahanon roared as he forced the two back before swinging. He knew what they were doing. He had seen it before when Danny and the others were being trained, including Sudoku. About 4-8 soldiers would be forced against only one of them. Danny and the others were like an army all on their own, and Mahanon was amazed…

Now, he was dealing _two_ armies, both Danny and Arnav.

Their battlefield got wider and their audience grew bigger as they watch this epic Kung-Fu battle of two versus one. They got a good couple of hits against Mahanon but Mahanon did the same to them. After six months of training, the Dalish elf would almost be at their level. He was fairing pretty good on his own. Some time, within the battle, Mahanon managed to trip Arnav and he spun to get around him and delivered a whack across Danny’s head, who couldn’t get out of the way in time.

The staff broke upon impact of the helmet, splitting in half as Danny staggered. It hurt. It would have hurt tons more if he hadn’t worn protective gear. Arnav had gotten up and kicked Mahanon back. Arnav lunged forward to stab with the staff but Mahanon sidestepped, grabbing the staff and headbutting Arnav, making him let go.

Arnav got back up and tackled him. They rolled about until he managed to on top of the elf, the staff pressed down against the Herald’s neck, who was trying to push back.

Arnav looked over to Danny to get some help, but Danny had tapped out, taking off his helmet as he was trying to get the ringing out of his head. Arnav rolled his eyes as he pressed the staff further down on his neck. “ _Yield_ , Mahanon!”

“Nnggh! No!” Mahanon protested then he said more quietly in harsher voice, “I won’t let you take Josephine from me! Kill me, Arnav!”

Arnav blinked and then squawked, “W-what--?! Oof!”

A trick. Mahanon headbutted Arnav again and turned the tables against him. Mahanon grabbed the staff and had the butt of the weapon on Arnav’s neck.

It was over. Danny was laughing as he was the only one close by to have heard what Mahanon said.

“Yield, Arnav.” Mahanon smirked.

Arnav grimaced. “Screw you… I yield. Now off.”

Mahanon got up and then helped Arnav up. Then slowly, they started to hear cheering before it turned into robust applause. Mahanon looked around and saw the audience they had gathered and watched their performance.

Abashed, he ignored them and went over to Danny. “How’s your head?”

“Still ringing, otherwise, you know you could have killed me with that attack??” Daniel questioned him and his violent attack. “…I’m lucky I was wearing a helmet.”

The Herald raised a brow, smiling, “…I have a feeling it’s going to take a lot more than that to crack your head.”

“…You Bitch.” Danny snapped.

Mahanon laughed. “Dickhead.”

 

 

 

After a couple of hours more—when Mahanon no longer had the desire to get up from the ground, Danny called it in for the morning and suggested they go get breakfast. The Herald was back up on his feet, already leading them to the tavern. Arnav accused him for faking, and Mahanon threatened to throw him in prison. All was in good laugh.

Later on, they met up at the War Room in the Chantry, going over the Signum Magazine orders that the advisors had gone through. Cullen, Josephine, Leliana, and even Cassandra were present as they checked the list. Danny and Mahanon ended up adding a few more orders and even doubled the quantities of the ones that the advisors requested.

Arnav calculated the total. “Alright, so that will be… 42 royals and 50 crowns. We’ll probably get that to finance over six months--”

“42 royals??” Cullen exclaimed as both Josephine and Leliana looked over the magazine order again, discerning at his total.

Arnav started to defend himself. “It was only 25 royals earlier until you all started ordering more and doubling the quantities, and these are high quality items. You’ll never find any of these items anywhere else but Signum. _But_ , you’re not all paying it up front. We’re going to do a financial plan where you guys can do a monthly payment of—”

“Arnav.” Mahanon interrupted him with his arms crossed. He asked him, “Where’s my _military discount?_ ”

Danny gasped at that. “That’s right! Where’s our military discount!?”

Arnav was baffled. “What? This is the best deal I could offer and you want more discounts? No way! Besides Inquisition doesn’t get military discount.”

Mahanon corrected him, “Daniel and I still work for Signum, and as per the rules, we can get military discount with any Signum vendor. And currently, you are considered a vendor, and you are from Signum.”

“…Ahhhhh… _Randhwa_.” Arnav cursed as he made that 20% deduction for military discount. Daniel just laughed at the curse word while Arnav gave them their total, “There. 20% off. 34 royals exact in six months with 5% interest.”

Mahanon frowned at that. “Hmmm, not good enough.”

“Wait, what if I place a down payment?” Danny asked as he took out his phone. “1,200 credits.”

“Same here as well.” Mahanon called. “What if it’s a 2,400 credit down payment?”

At this rate, the advisors were confused at the terms ‘credit’ as if it was currency. Arnav hummed as he took out his phone and started making the calculations.

“Credits?” Leliana questioned.

Arnav answered, “It is Signum’s currency… so 4,400 credits… that will be 22 royals that would need to be paid off. With the financial plan of six months and 5% interest, that will be a monthly payment of 4 royals and 33 crowns.”

Josephine piped in, “Oh! We can certainly afford that!”

Arnav beamed at that. “That’s great! Let’s just get this contract signed then. Who should be financially liable if the payments don’t go through?”

Mahanon raised his hand as he stepped up and grabbed the pen from him. “I will be.”

It stunned the advisors a bit and Josephine moved in. “Oh no. The Inquisition as a whole would be liable, Herald.”

“That’s now how it works with Signum. It’d be better if I sign it.” Mahanon noted to her as he legibly printed his name before signing on the bottom with his signature.

“He’s right. Besides, I’m sure you guys can pay it off,” Arnav said without any worries.

Leliana crossed her arms, her eyes leering over at him. “How big is Signum?”

Arnav carelessly answered, “It’s a big city. There’s like a little over seven hundred of us.”

Oh SHIT!

“ _Arnav!_ ” Danny hissed and when Mahanon finished signing, he stabbed the guy’s hand with the pen. Arnav yelped, pulling his hand away as he looked up at both Danny and Mahanon in shock. “What? …Oh shit, they don’t know?”

Leliana looked a bit smug with her eyes narrowing down at them like a hawk as she crossed her arms, saying, “So… Signum _is_ more than just a merchant guild.”

Danny tried to appease, “Well—”

“Enough! No more lies and no more secrets!” Cassandra cut in, stepping forward. “…I swear to you, this will not leave the room, but you both must be honest with us and tell us what Signum really is! Especially when we are helping you to hear of any word of your escaped prisoners!”

That’s right. Last night, He and Cass had gone to Leliana and requested her to be on lookout of any ‘Signum’ people out in Orlais or Ferelden or anywhere else but the Free Marches.

Both Mahanon and Arnav turned to Danny, waiting mostly at his cue. He is after all the son of the Commander Soto, Leader of Signum. He was less likely to be court martialed for revealing the secret. Danny cringed but he took a deep breath and decided that maybe he’ll need the help of the Inquisition to continue the façade. To ensure Signum’s secrecy, they would have to trust the Inquisition advisors. After all, Signum wasn’t ready to come out yet in the world publicly, at least not in the moment when they’re affiliated with an organization that is considered a heretic movement in Thedas.

“Okay. If you all are sworn to secrecy that this wouldn’t leave this room…” Danny began, and Cassandra and the advisors shared some collective nods, prompting the agent to continue.

It took nearly over an hour to explain _almost_ everything about Signum. There were still several things that they needed to keep secret about because it wasn’t theirs to tell, nor was it important for the Inquisition to know at the time.

“So, let me get this straight.” Cullen started. “Danny, you and your people are not from another land, but from another _world?_ ”

Danny nodded. “Yep.”

“And you got here through _dimensional travel?_ ”

“Yep.”

Cullen let out an exasperated sigh. “ _How_ is that even possible?”

“I didn’t build the gateway portal, so I don’t really know the science of it, but it’s not magic.” Danny insisted with that, knowing how the former Knight Commander of the Templars felt about magic. “Furthermore, we are here to stay. The gateway portal was destroyed soon after we arrived here about…seven years ago now, I think.”

The Commander asked curiously, “So, what made you leave the _Commonwealth?_ ”

“The earth was dying… A century ago, some bloke called out that there was only one land left that was untainted by the nuclear fallout. It was known as the Promised Land, and people from all over the world sailed towards it. Many factions, organizations, and sovereign powers battled for it…” Danny let out a pity laugh as he added, “And of course, the war ruined the ‘Land of Milk and Honey’, and even then, they still didn’t stop... It wasn’t until over three decades ago that the Signum Accord Act was signed, which ended the war.”

“ _Signum Accord Act?_ ” Josephine inquired. She had been taking notes nonstop on this story.

“It disbanded every organization, faction, sovereign powers, and even raiders, collecting each individual into the only place that was left standing: Sigma Outpost… thus Signum was born. Every one of us are made an oath that every citizen is to work towards goals that better Signum as a society. To do that, the past has to be forgotten, including crimes and their old ties to factions. Cleared out. Those who didn’t follow and disobeyed the Signum Code were banished into the wasteland…”

“Still, like I said, the war ruined the land anyway, and the use of weapons only increased the nuclear fallout… The earth was dying and soon the air was too foul for anyone to survive. We had to wear secured gas masks…but Signum scientists discovered ‘Dimensional Travelling’ plans from a place called the _Institute_. A military team was sent to recover the schematics. The Scientists built it just in time and the portal took us here…”

“I was around 17 years old when we got here and we arrived inside this giant thaig. The Darkspawns caught us off-guard because we thought they were perhaps just an ugly intelligible race. We cleared them out of the thaig and made the place our home. With our advanced weapons against measly swords, it was incredibly easy to exterminate. Slowly, we started sending more of our people out to scout this whole new world. We were surprised not only to find humans, but elves and dwarves as well.”

Cassandra’s brows raised. “Your world doesn’t have elves or dwarves?”

Danny shook his head. “They existed only in fantasy novels, not… real life. So, yeah, we were very surprised.”

They turned to Mahanon, wanting to know his opinion, who in turn, sighed but he was smiling as he said, “The Signum people were very fascinated with our ears. We were treated like celebrities…still are. Always asking if they could touch our ears, not knowing it’s rude and… _invasive_.” He eyed at Arnav.

Arnav backed up, holding his hands up. “Hey! I didn’t know they were _erogenous_ zones.”

Cullen chortled and Mahanon gave Arnav a good whack to the shoulder.

Danny continued, “Slowly, we had our scouts play as merchants and set out to sell things in the nearby Free Marcher cities like Kirkwall, Markham, and Ostwick to gather information.”

“You are integrating yourselves in our world.” Leliana said in realization. “…If what you say is true, and you have weapons that could destroy the living world… I am surprised Signum has not attempted to conquer anything… if what you say our equipment is primitive.”

Danny sighed. “…I think… we’re tired of War. If possible, we would like to avoid war… I mean… it was war that started this whole mess—the fall out and… I mean, it’s why we left all our nuclear equipment back in the other world. We don’t want to corrupt this world—we want to make it as our home… We do want to keep it as a very healthy environment.”

“And that is why you will not sell us the _pens?_ ” Josephine asked, a bit disappointed. She had used Danny’s pen at one point until it ran out of ink before giving it back to him.

“We are extremely strict on that.” Danny grinned and then he let out a sigh. “And… so far, that’s all I can tell you guys… anymore questions?”

Leliana crossed her arms, “…so… what did this Doctor _Wen_ and Doctor Rontgen do to receive this dead or alive policy?”

Danny narrowed his eyes. “...Arnav and I, and plus twenty-three others were part of a training program since we were four or five years old. We were considered to be the next generation that would lead Signum as we were trained like soldiers... Dr. Nguyen was our Overseer… and he betrayed us. He did…something to us. I don’t know what, but… he’s the reason why nineteen of my brothers and sisters are dead…”

“…He killed my little sister.” Arnav added in silent anger. “…that monster deserves to die.”

The room fell silent as they took this in. Mahanon knew already but it was still a harsh story to listen. This Dr. Nguyen was like a second father figure…and to kill them off like that.

Danny sighed. “Though…that’s our problem. If you hear anything, Leliana, we would very much appreciate it that you let us know immediately.”

Leliana nodded solemnly. “Of course…”

“Thank you… Are there any other questions?”

After answering a couple more questions, they returned back to the original topic, which was the payment of all that they ordered. Danny took out his phone and his chit. He slid it first with his chit card before holding the phone to Arnav. Arnav got out his phone and pressed it against his. There was a beep noise which confused the advisors, before they pulled their phones away.

“There. I got your 1,200 credits.” Arnav said, flipping through the phone screen.

“What are those? They’re not just bad mirrors as you said they were, Danny?” Cullen questioned.

Daniel barked out a laugh while Arnav gave him an incredulous look. The Indian agent started explaining to him about the cellphones. They were exclusively only for Signum military for now and they were used like radios but portable. It doesn’t have the long range like the actual radio equipment they have, but it’s good within a five-mile radius.

“Okay. Your turn, Mahanon.” Arnav prompted.

The Dalish sighed. “You’re going to have to go to the bank and get it Arnav… I lost my phone and my chit in the fade.”

“In the fade—holy shit, so you really _were_ in there? _Hell?_ ” Arnav asked incredulously, gaping at his Dalish friend. “How did you survive?”

Mahanon shrugged. “…I don’t know… luck?”

Leliana scoffed. “ _Divine_ luck, Herald.”

Danny then had an idea as he took out his phone again. He then went into the contacts list.

“What are you doing?” Mahanon asked, eyeing at his mischievous friend.

“I’m calling your phone…”

Arnav shook his head. “Danny, that’s not going to work—”

“It’s ringing!!” Danny squawked, silencing them as they waited with great anticipation and terror. Arnav was mostly freaking out as he realized that phone reception actually worked to the land of the dead. Holy crap!

_…riiiing…_

_….riiiiiing…_

_…riiiiinng…._

They waited, and waited. Then Danny lowered the phone down, turning it off.

Arnav bravely took a step forward. “Well? …What happened?”

Danny slowly turned to his friend with terror in his eyes.

“…Someone picked up…. but then they hung up.”

.

.

.

**Thedas Currency to Signum Currency**

1 Royal = 100 Crowns = 10,000 Pennies = **200 credits**

1 Crown = 100 Pennies = **2 credits**

50 Pennies = **1 credit**

.

.

.


	17. Danny is a Troll. Very Sorry.

.

.

.

Danny walked out of the chantry with Arnav, laughing the whole way.

Arnav whacked his shoulder. “Shit, man! I actually believed you! You Dick—Oh I’m so sorry!” He quickly apologized to the chantry sisters who gasped at the use of language.

“Hahaha! I couldn’t help it!”

Danny had just trolled them a bit with the cellphone. Obviously, no one picked up on the other end of the phone. Danny outright chuckled at them, saying that he was just kidding, and Mahanon had enough of his bullshit. The Herald kicked him _and_ Arnav of out the office, dismissing them. Either way, it helped so that there would be no more questions about Signum, and it was totally worth it.

Arnav cut in to asked, “So wait. No one picked up at all, right?”

“Jesus Christ, Arnav. _Noooo!_ Okay? But there was cellphone reception for sure,” Danny admitted to the phone ringing. “The phone just went to voicemail… What? You think the spirits are just going to know how to pick up a smart phone? Use the touch screen and slide it to open? They’re probably still figuring where the ringtone was coming from.”

Arnav shook his head. “Oh, thank God, it would have been freaky…I’m a little amazed that Mahanon’s phone is even still working or alive—I mean… how’s the battery on that?”

“It’s lyrium battery powered. It’s going to last forever, I think, unless it breaks somehow. And really, the battery? I mentioned cellphone reception. _Cellphone reception_.” Danny greatly emphasized the word.

His friend shook his head, sighing, “See, I’m pretty sure Dr. Belle and Kristoff are going to have a challenging time explaining that. How is that even possible?”

“Hey, Arnav, we’re just agents. Not scientists. Let’s leave that for the RML, and we go get lunch. I’m starving.”

When they got inside the tavern, it went quiet for a moment before people started to gossip. Danny noted how strange that was but then he spotted Varric with some other familiar faces, waving over to join him.

“Charming!” Varric called out.

They started heading over there and Arnav inquired with a snicker. “Charming?”

“Designated nickname.”

Arnav scoffed. “You know that’s absolutely the contrary of you, right?”

“Everyone’s talking about what happened this morning,” Varric began as they sat down. “Is that how you always trained? Every morning?”

“Every morning when we can with the exception that we’re out travelling on foot,” Danny pointed out as they didn’t train when they were in the Hinterlands.

“Is it like men tryin’ show up the elfy by being an ass?” One elf girl exclaimed with an accusing tone towards Danny and Arnav. Who was this one?

“…Huh? Are you talking about when we ganged up on Mahanon?” Danny asked and the elven woman with the bad haircut nodded. “What of it? I say he handled himself quite well.”

“Which reminds me, how’s your head?” The Iron bull cut in, not much concern in his voice, more so of curiosity. “You took quite a hit from the Herald.”

“I know right? He could have killed me with that hit if I wasn’t wearing protective gear.”

“So that strange pillow thing on your head. That’s _protective gear?_ ”

“I’m still here, aren’t I? Though it’s not practical for combat. The bright color gives it away, and plus, it’s just only for training. It proves ineffective against blades or bullets—ehmm, in your guys’ case, _arrows_.”

“You watch yourself. I got plenty of those arrows.” The elven woman stated, leering at Daniel.

Daniel was thinking, what the fuck? What did he do?

Varric chastised the girl, “Now, now, play nice, Buttercup. It’s an everyday thing for them, and it’s definitely not the hassle the elf game.”

Ohhhhhh…

Arnav understood the dislike now as he corrected Varric, “Oh, no, it’s absolutely the Hassle the elf Game, you know why? Because no one gives a damn for the elves. They’re the little people after all. We’re not going easy on Mahanon. He knows it too that the world is cruel. No fight will ever be fair. So, he can just suck it up and take it.”

His answered seemed to have stun the elf to silence as she was starting to understand why they had to gang up on Mahanon. No fight will ever be fair. Not in this world that belittled elves, or the little people, because honestly in any world, life is cruel. Danny blinked as he wondered if this was the elf.

“Hey. Are you Sera of the Red Jenny? The one that stole breeches?”

Arnav turned to him. “Huh? _Breeches?_ Trousers, right?”

_Sera_ let out this hyena sort of laugh that got both Daniel and Arnav looking at her strangely. She _loudly_ hyena-laughed, before saying, “Good tip, right? The baddies came running in! …Pfff… With NO Breeches!! Hahahahahaha!”

 She hyena-cackled and the two laughed along hesitantly. Harley Quinn came to their minds as they subtly inched away from her. When she got distracted by one of the chargers, Arnav whispered to Danny, “I hope she doesn’t steal my breeches. I have to leave by the morning.”

Varric laughed at that and the others joined in, confusing the Red Jenny Sera.

Then Corporal Kano walked in. Arnav waved him over. “Kaaannooo!!”

Then Bull stood up and he had this cocky grin. “Just in time. Ready, Corporal?”

Kano approached him, stopping a meter away as he motioned of cracking his neck. “And here I figured you would chicken out.”

“I like you. You’ve got a lot of confidence in you.”

“And so, do you.”

Danny panicked as he looked between the two. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up! Kano… are you riding the bull?” He asked that question quietly, but the others, who were nearby, burst into robust laughter. (excluding Arnav, who was confused by all this).

Kano gave Danny a deadpanned look. “No.”

Convincing enough, Danny let out a sigh of relief. “Okay… my sanity is safe. What’s going on here exactly?”

“Nothing too much but a friendly competition, Danny.” Bull said as he started to flex his arms. “Arm wrestling, that is.”

“Don’t hurt yourself.” Kano warned him as he moved to the empty table in the room that the Chargers prepared as they moved out of the way but gathered like an audience.

Bull chuckled as he went to join. “You really think you are going to win, aren’t you?”

“There’s a ninety-two percent probability of me beating your ass, so… yes.”

“Ohhhh! Hahaha! And the other eight percent is me winning?”

“No. The eight percent is me having a malfunction, _causing_ you to win.”

Arnav leaned in to Danny, really whispering so the others wouldn’t overhear. “Holy shit. Who do you think would win? The Qunari? Or the _Synth?_ ”

Danny shrugged as he was interested to watch this match as both competitors sit down on each chair across the other. Kano’s a Gen 5 Synth and he was over 150 years old. He had travelled with Commander Soto and was part of the team to retrieve the schematics for the dimensional travel machine of the abandoned institute. Synths were strong, and not only due to the hidden assault weapons underneath their skin, but the metal made them sturdy and nearly impossible to penetrate with bullets alone.

Plus, Kano was quite a terminator. An army all by himself, but then again, so was Bull. Bull reminded him so much of a Super mutant, but not as much a giant nor volatile with temper.

Well, he had to place a bet somewhere.

 “Ten silvers on Kano!” Danny called out. “Who’s betting?”

That started a betting pool, and the placing was nearly even, but mostly everyone in the tavern favored Bull. The ones betting for Kano were mostly Signum people.

“Kano! Don’t lose!” Arnav heckled before laughing. Other Signum soldiers started laughing as well as if there was some sort of an inside joke between them. The Chargers just looked confused. They didn’t know the truth.

Varric then bet 10 silvers but on Kano. Bull noticed that. “Betting against me Varric?”

“Sorry, Tiny, but something tells me I should take my chances with _Perky_ here.” He said. “I don’t want to miss out whatever inside joke they have.”

Danny laughed at that and Arnav moved to be referee.

“Alright! I want a nice, clean fight! …Sort of. Ready? Arms…Go!”

The arm wrestling match started and Bull was putting all his effort, and it seemed like Kano as well. Kano was a pretty good actor, looking like he was straining, but Danny was sure that this was easy breeze for the synth. After all, the synth can lift a jeep and chuck it at someone. However, Kano knew how to play along as he gripped the big hand of Qunari tighter and started dominating as his arm bend down to Kano’s favor. The Iron Bull looked surprised but then he only looked more determined as he brought it back to his favor (Kano letting him of course).

Both sides were cheering them on, though the Chargers were mostly taken off guard. _How_ was their boss _not_ winning any time sooner?

Little did they know, Kano wasn’t going to let him win.

After two more minutes of this intense arm wrestling, Kano was bored already as he slammed down the Bull’s hand, winning and breaking the table in half at the same time. Signum cheered and congratulated Kano before getting their winnings. Meanwhile, Team Charger were stumped and most of the patrons were looking towards Kano with disbelief on their faces. It just didn’t seem possible that a human could beat a qunari especially in the test of strength.

“Pay up!” Arnav called out. “Lysette! Another round for everyone here! Kano’s treat!”

They cheered at that and Kano glared right at Arnav, who quickly retreated to get more. The synth sighed as he settled back down on the chair, even though the table before them was nothing but pieces of wood now.

Bull also slumped back down on his seat and he turned to Krem. “What the _fuck_ just happened?”

“…I think you lost, Chief.” Krem answered also with disbelief in his tone.

“ _Drink!_ ” Arnav ordered, returning as he passed mugs to Bull, Krem, and the other chargers.

 

With more drinks that night being spread about, the more everyone got drunk, and surely there would be regrets tomorrow. Mahanon came later after the meeting and he approached the tavern, hearing loud banging and singing…

The Herald of Andraste entered the room.

_Tap, Tap, Clap! Tap, Tap, Clap!_

_Tap, Tap, Clap! Tap, Tap, Clap!_

“Buddy you're a boy make a big noise, playin' in the street gonna be a big man some day!” Danny sang as everyone around kept drumming the rhythm. “You got mud on yo' face, You big disgrace! Kickin' your can all over the place, Singin'!”

_“We will, we will rock you!”_

_Tap, Tap, Clap! Tap, Tap, Clap!_

_“We will, we will rock you!”_

_Tap, Tap, Clap! Tap, Tap, Clap!_

Mostly everyone in the tavern sang as Signum soldier were teaching them how to sing the song. It was simple enough. It was one of the first few things that Danny and his friends taught Mahanon and the other Dalish how to sing, among many more songs.

Mahanon was just gaping at them all.

Oh Creators, he needed a drink first to join in on this nonsense.

They finished the song with the tavern cheering them, approving it. They called for an anchor. More songs from Signum, they say. Even the minstrel, Maryden, had sat down and started cheering for them to continue. Danny went over to her and requested if he could borrow her _guitar._

“Guitar? This is a lute, Messere.”

“Lute. Yeah. Same thing. Can I have it?”

Mahanon chastised his friend. “Danny!”

“Oh shit, uh… _May I_ borrow your lute?”

Maryden giggled before she handed the lute to him. Danny started tuning the guitar while Arnav and a couple other soldiers started chanting, ‘play, play, play, play!’

“Quiet!” Danny shouted and the others just heckled at him as he tried to get the tuning right.

After a moment longer, he started strumming some chords and Arnav cheered. “Yes! Play it, I’m ready!” He said as he got seated and pounded his fists on the table.

Danny rolled his eyes as he started playing.

“ _This ain't a song for the broken-hearted!_ ”

Arnav pounded loudly, becoming the table-drummer: THUD-THUD!

Signum soldiers cheered, knowing the song immediately. Meanwhile, the others were more surprised that Danny knew how to play, excluding Mahanon, recalling the rave, bars, and …all those night time shenanigans they went through in Signum.

“ _No silent prayer for the faith-departed!_ ”

THUD-THUD!

At this rate, the tavern had gotten even more rowdy that it kept attracting people from the outside. The windows were open to not only let some cool air in, but also to let the music out.

“ _I ain't gonna be just a face in the crowd! You're gonna hear my voice when I shout it out loud!_ ”

THUD-THUD!

Signum soldiers started singing along and even Mahanon, who knew the song well,

_“It's my life_

_It's now or never_

_I ain't gonna live forever_

_I just want to live while I'm alive_

_It's my life_

_My heart is like an open highway_

_Like Frankie said_

_I did it my way_

_I just wanna live while I'm alive_

_It's my life!”_

Unbeknownst to Danny, the advisors and Cassandra walked into the tavern, wanting to know the commotion, only to watch the performance right when the chorus came in. Some were up on their feet and a couple of the soldiers started dancing. The tavern was wild but everyone was having a good time, belching out the song that only Signum knows, but the Inquisition was digging it.

This whole party lasted for several more hours, until it started dying down with a couple of people passing out. By then, it was already nighttime.

A couple of the signum soldiers started to help with clean-up even as the barmaids told them to leave it since it’s their job… but they made quite a mess, so they felt guilty. They cleaned up with what they can, or at least made the barmaids' jobs easier before tipping them.

Danny looked around, tired and sore. He had handed the guitar back to Maryden an hour ago or so. He looked up when he saw Cassandra entering the tavern again. She had left hours ago when it was getting too crazy for her tastes, but returned for late dinner, he supposed.

“Caaasss!” Danny called out, raising his mug at her.

She raised a brow at him before sighing as she went over to sit on the chair across from him. She then eyed at Mahanon who was sleeping next to him, face first on the wooden table.

“You have debauched the Herald.” She accused him.

“He did that on himself.” Danny protested as he took one more swill. “…Besides, he’s a sleepy, passively aggressive drunk.”

Cassandra raised her brow at him, unsure what that meant, but Varric was laughing. “Passively aggressive, I’ll say. When one of the chargers spilled their drink on the floor, the Herald got up and started scolding them like some parent, and he made them clean.”

Danny laughed giddily as he recalled that scene. He wasn’t drunk enough honestly, and he tried to, but Cassandra reached over, grabbing his ale. “Heeeeeeey…” He whined.

The Seeker rolled her eyes at him as she drank the ale herself. Danny pouted at her. Damn, she stole his ale… but damn did she look _sexy_.

Like sexy... Hot...and _fiiinnee..._

Cassandra sputtered her drink, looking straight at Danny with a shocked look.

Danny blinked, realizing, “…Oh, did I say that out loud?”

Varric was laughing at them now before he had to get up and leave when Cassandra threw him a glare that said she was going to stab him with a sword. He retreated after giving Danny a wink as he left the two alone. (Technically they were alone since Mahanon was sleeping).

“Ugh! You cannot be serious,” She said to Danny. “You are drunk.”

Danny shrugged. “Yeah, a bit, but doesn't mean I’m blind, Seeker…” Wow. Alcohol was making him brave, but it was also digging a 6-foot grave for him…or a fiery pyre, as Thedas culture.

Cassandra narrowed her eyes at him and he cockily grinned.

 

 

> Short Smut Alert

 

 

He pushed her against the wall as they stumbled into her cabin, lips smashed together upon the urgency and the growing passion. Hands moved around, feeling each other up. The only thing getting in the way now was her armor. Danny groaned out a growl, a little annoyed, but she was too as she pushed him off and started stripping off her armor. He, of course, helped her with it while he hungrily covered her neck with sweet, wet kisses, tasting her hot skin.  Once the top armor was off, his hands moved to cup her breasts, massaging them. He moved his hips against her and she let out a low moan, her body heating up at the touch— _his_ touch.

Soon, they managed to strip themselves most of their clothing as they got on her bed. He was already hard and erect, but what about her? Was she wet? He slipped in two of his fingers in her core, and Gods, she was wet and slick. His fingers slid in so easily and she let out this mewling gasp—Maker, it was music to his ears. His thumb pressed down on that sensitive knob, rubbing on it while he inserted a third finger, scissoring her inside. He honestly could fit his cock in right now with how wet she was, but he didn’t want to hurt her.

“NNnnggghh, Daniel…!”

He glowered, hearing his name called out as he watched her writhe in pleasure underneath him. He crouched over, kissing her ferociously with passion and she kissed him back, while wrapping her arms around his neck. He couldn’t wait any longer as he got in between her legs, getting into position. He pressed inside, groaning while she moaned aloud, feeling him enter. She was so tight and hot inside, but so wet that he could still slide out, only to thrust back in.

“Ohhh, ohhh, oh Maker…!” She gasped aloud, wrapping her legs tightly around his waist as he started to move, rocking his hips against her.

“Nnggghhhhh…! Fuck, Cass…!” He grunted, moving faster against her as he gripped her waist tightly, keeping her pinned down to the bed.

Pants and moans were shared, including this heated passion that sparked over drinks and a few words. Danny didn’t mind, and after being with Cassandra, he figured she needed to get some relief. They were only humans after all, but he noted to himself that he was determined to pursue this Seeker. Though at that night, Danny hadn’t realized that yet. Neither had the Seeker.

The Seeker let out a strangled cry of pleasure, trying not to make too much noise as she was aware that the walls were thin. Danny groaned aloud as he rode out her orgasm and forced himself to hold it in. A few moments after the climax, he pulled out but Cass returned the favor, stroking his cock.

“Ohhh, fuck, Cass, that’s it…!” He grunted as he rocked against her hand, and his words seemed to encourage her as she pumped his cock faster. He soon came, spilling his seed on her and on the bed.

They were both now out of breath, stunned… but in a good way. They were looking directly at each other in wonder and disbelief. A few moments after, Danny pressed her lips against hers and she eagerly returned it. It was slower now, but with a growing passion as his hands roamed again, feeling her up and down.

They were like this all night until both were spent…and had relieved a lot of stress.

 

 

 

 

 

> End Short Smut

 

“Hey, Cass, baby, I gotta go.”

“Nngh… Don’t call me _baby_.”

Danny chuckled quietly as he was getting dressed quickly. The sun wasn’t up yet, but he knew the Seeker wasn’t a morning person. When they camped in the hinterlands, it surprised him that she would always be the last one to get up. He had once thought she was doing some female things of ritual to fully wake up, but no, she was sleeping in like a normal person.

Once he was fully dressed, she called out to him, “Daniel?”

“Yes, Cass?”

“…This… was one time only.”

He blinked, and something in him pang hurtfully.

Unsure of it, he shrugged. “Sure. No problem… You can sleep a little longer, Cass. I’m gonna go wake Mahanon for the morning run.”

She groaned sleepily. “Nnhhh… poor Herald.”

“Yeah. No, he’s not that lucky. See ya later.” He then left the door, feeling…oddly hurt.

 

 

 

That following morning, Arnav left for Denerim in one of the jeeps with escort so he can get there faster. The order already went through via the radio, and now he just need to make sure it got there from Kirkwall to Denerim and then back to Haven. Plus, Arnav had to go to the bank in Signum and get out Mahanon’s credits after getting him to sign a letter and such that he had approved Arnav for 1200 credits. It still boggled the advisors that Signum is a city of seven hundred people, and that they had their own currency as credits. Otherwise, the others wouldn’t know.

Mahanon, Danny, and a few other selected companions had also left, heading out to the Storm Coast. After finding out that the Grey Warden Blackwall had no clue were all the other wardens went, they heard from Scout Harding that there was a group of Grey Wardens camped in the storm coast. The Herald took Blackwall, Sera, Solas, and Bull with them to investigate these Grey Wardens.

Grey Wardens. Danny thought. Well, Anders is a grey warden. He wondered how he and Dr. Belle were doing, researching for the cure for the blight and such.

There was one thing though that slipped from his mind…

Grey wardens always **attracted** darkspawn.

 

 

_“K-Kyle…”_

_“Danny… r-run…”_

_His friend started to convulse, choking and gasping, as he was telling Danny to run. There was pounding on the door, his father and Dr. Belle yelling from the other side for him, but Danny could hardly move as he watched his closest buddy change before him._

_Kyle’s eyes were bloodshot red and his body had patches of rotting skin. He started to keel and turn, his body bending over in back-breaking positions that he was sure he heard his spine break. Black bile flowed out from his mouth as he began to scream in pain._

_Danny just watched in horror. Frozen._

_Then Kyle fell limp on the floor in his own corrupted blood and bile. His veins turning black visibly on the skin…He could still hear his father and Dr. Belle calling for him to open the door, but he couldn’t feel his muscles… Then a Chitter…and a snarl came out from him slowly. His body twitched as it bended over, crawling on four._

_And his eyes showed that Kyle was now gone, replaced by this monster._

_It roared and crawled inhumanely fast towards him._

**“DANNY!”**

Danny blinked, and was shook right back to reality as he felt the Iron Bull shove him back. His giant great sword collided against the darkspawn Hurlock, hacking it into half. It took a moment longer for Daniel to get his head straight—confused by the sudden transition of an old memory and into reality itself.

“Eat shit!” He heard Sera shout.

“Danny! Fight!” Mahanon tried again, getting his friend to snap out of it.

Fire burst from behind them as it hit the hurlocks coming for them.

Daniel shook his head and in moments, he was on his feet. These darkspawn were _not_ his friends. He told himself. They were dead a long time ago. He joined the fight without any qualms to exterminate these creatures—monsters, whatever these things are.

With three warriors, two rogues, and one mage, they cleaned up the place pretty quickly.

“First time seeing a Darkspawn?” Warden Blackwall questioned. “…It’s nothing to be ashamed of. I remembered my first—”

“No.” Danny cut him off right there, then he walked off, shaking his head. He didn’t want to hear it as he moved further away from the group, wanting to be alone for a little while.

Sera unhelpfully called out to him, “Awe piss, Danny! You get all mopey ‘cause you freeze? Get over yourself!” Danny had too much on his plate to even acknowledge her as he kept going to where the ocean waves were, wanting to see it up close for now.

 

“Ugh! What’s wrong wit’ him?” Sera asked when Danny was out of earshot.

“Nothing is wrong with him.” Mahanon interjected but he watched his friend with concern. He wondered if it had anything to do with his past.

Bull them hummed. “That wasn’t a normal ‘freeze in battle’…”

“There’s a _normal_ ‘freeze in battle?’” Blackwall inquired.

The qunari nodded, crossing his arms. “Yeah. That fear in his eyes? That was trauma. These darkspawn probably triggered him, though I don’t think they’re his main phobia… Otherwise, he would have remained frozen in the entire battle. You saw as I did, he just started hacking them all up with _rage_.”

“…Perhaps you should see how he is doing?” Solas asked, turning to Mahanon.

Mahanon nodded and after a moment, he started walking towards Danny. He remembered the story well from Dr. Belle as well as from Sudoku, though it was harder for her. None of them ever wanted to talk about it, especially Danny. It was the biggest crime ever committed in all of history, he believed. The others wouldn’t understand unless they saw it themselves.

The Herald stopped a meter behind Danny, and Danny knew he was there.

“…One by one, Mahanon… I used to wish death should have come quicker for them…for _us_.”

Mahanon frowned and he walked a little closer. “…Dr. Bell told me… and even Sudoku, but… she can’t get the words out…”

“Hah… it wasn’t a fun time for any of us…” Danny dryly said as he kept watching the ocean waves of the Storm Coast. For once it wasn’t raining, at least, not yet. Just a drizzle, here and there. “…I thought… I thought we were getting better… I didn’t think… I should have pulled the trigger before he turned… Should have listened to him… Gods, I was such a coward. I let him suffer—”

“Danny.” Mahanon cut in. “…If you had asked me the same thing, I don’t think I would have been able to either… It’s… that’s a lot to ask… Ending a friend.”

“But it would have been _merciful._ ”

“It isn’t fair for anyone to ask someone else of that…”

There was a long tense silence between them, and after a while, Mahanon spoke, “Are you alright? I mean… Bull stated that it might be trauma—”

“Bull knows shit! He--…Sigh… it’s not trauma… It’s…. the darkspawn just reminded me of Kyle… that was all.”

Mahanon wanted to keep asking, but he knew when not to push it. “…Well, whenever you’re ready.”

Daniel took another deep breath of the fresh sea air before letting it out, slowly, gathering himself. He nodded as he got off the rock. “I’m good. I’m ready.”

The two of them returned to the group soon after, and they saw Bull and Sera finish looting the bodies and making sure the darkspawn creatures were dead. They were about to continue the trail on looking for more clues of the grey wardens when they heard a roar in the distance.

Bull suddenly had this child-like wonder on his face as he lit up when he heard that magnificent raging roar and he started running towards the direction. They all exchanged looks before catching up to the excited qunari.

Hah. Excited qunari. Nothing new there.

They got close to the coast once more and they saw a dragon fighting a really tall creature…

“Wooohhhooo! Look at that!” Bull yelled out, excited.

“Wh…what is that thing?” Danny asked, his jaw dropping a bit.

Solas answered for him, “I believe what you see in front of you is a giant, Daniel, that is currently being bothered by a dragon.”

Danny paused before turning to Solas. “…Giant. Just say, _Danny, that is a giant_. Not that long ass sentence… Thank you, by the way.”

The apostate elf just raised an unamused brow at Danny while Bull kept yelling and Sera was telling him to shut up or else he’d interrupt the fight.

The Giant then threw a harsh backhand against the dragon, and the high dragon flew away, retreating from the battle…

Then its attention was turned towards them when Bull let out this disappointed groan.

Mahanon tsked. “…Bull. It’s coming for us.”

“Haha! And it’s not even my birthday! _RAAAHH!_ ” The big, one-eyed, Ben-Hassrath qunari then charged right for the giant with the big wooden club.

Didn’t they all just finish a battle? They were exhausted! Why isn’t he exhausted?

“We better go, before he kills himself.” Blackwall noted.

The Herald sighed. “Agreed.”

They battled the giant and really Danny didn’t know what to think of it. In their knowledge of Thedas, they never once mentioned giants. Were they only indigenous in the South?

“Jesus Christ!!” Daniel cried out as he got out of the way when the club went right down, smashing a crater on the sand. This thing had to be intelligent or something if it’s using weapons. Why were they fighting it anyway?

To think, it’d be impossible to take down this giant creature by one, but there were five of them. Each were distracting and hurting the creature, trying to kill it and put it down. Honestly, if they could take out this thing, it meant that they could also bring the dragon down, right?

At some point in the battle, Sera had stumbled and she got her foot stuck in some stones. The giant saw the opportunity when Mahanon fled from his position and running over to help her out. It grabbed a whole boulder with its hands and chucked it right towards them.

_“Mahanon!”_ Danny called out, but it was too late… the boulder landed and debris smothered the area.

Then… at that moment, he thought the wonder woman music started playing…

The debris cleared out and right next to the boulder were both Sera and Mahanon safe and sound, and behind them…

It was Sudoku.

The giant let out an annoyed roar and she took that cue to run right at it. Danny could hear Sera from afar, demanding who that woman was, as Sudoku rushed towards the giant, drawing out her samurai blade. The giant brought down its club but she was way too fast as she had gotten behind him and sliced his ankles deeply, bleeding.

The giant started to hop with one foot, gripping the other that was bleeding profusely. She didn’t stop there as she ran right to the stone wall, parkour her way high enough to leap off of it and stabbed the creature from the back. Her blade going right in like knife stabbing soft butter. The giant’s roaring cry was cut off before it fell right over on its face, dead on the rocks and sand.

Sudoku stood victoriously over it. She withdrew her blade, swinging it to get rid of the blood, before gracefully stepping off of the dead giant like the badass motherfucker that she was.

“Whoa… Signum?” Bull asked in wonder as he was gawking—no, drooling at the sight of her. It seemed like Blackwall was too—and Sera? Yep. Sera’s jaw was on the floor. Only Solas was the decent, untainted saint.

Danny answered Bull’s question casually, “Yep.”

“Is she single?”

Not a second after, Mahanon went straight for her and he pulled her right into her arms as they shared a heated, passionate kiss that would put every goddamn romance, kissing couple movie to _shame_ , because this one was fucking _epic_.

Danny then turned to a disappointed Qunari face. “…Did that answer your question, Bull?”

“…Awe…fuck.”

This Inquisition business was turning to an action/romance film.

.

.

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes. Sorry, that phone thing was me trolling you guys. :P But you never know... at least this means phones work in the fade.  
> OH... Sudoku is back. :)


	18. Might Be Something There

 

.

.

.

“You two tracked down Dr. Rontgen to Denerim?”

Sudoku nodded. “Yes… but we lost the trail there. Adrian could no longer see them.”

Danny sighed. He had already heard it from Arnav, but he needed to hear their side at least, to see what they had missed or maybe there was a clue or anything… But, Nothing.

“Any more questions?” She asked.

He shook his head. “No, none—ow!”

Sudoku aptly delivered a punch right at Danny’s shoulder and he curled away, gripping his arm tightly.

“Holy shit--! FFF…!” He cursed, moving away from the mad Asian woman as he catered to the developing bruise. Adrian immediately distanced himself as well, and though he was not facing her wrath, he feared for the two, especially the elf.

She then turned dangerously to Mahanon, who immediately held his hands up, surrendering.

“S-Sudoku.”

“You died!!” She yelled as she delivered a smack right at him, hitting his shoulder.

Mahanon winced and he started backing up, but she only delivered more smacks as she continued to rant at him, “And you two had been alive all this time! Why didn’t you send a message sooner? Why didn’t you come back home faster!? Mahanon, you asshole!”

“Sudoku, stop—ow! Wait, listen to me—”

“You didn’t call me! Not even on the radio! I was so worried—!”

Both Danny and Adrian fled, returning to the camp on the coast that wasn’t too far as they decided it’d be better to watch from a safe distance. When they got to the camp, they looked over to see that Sudoku was still hitting Mahanon, and the elf was trying to appease her.

“Lovers’ spat?” Blackwall questioned, finding the couple fight more interesting than the fire crackling.

Danny moved his bruised arm, still rubbing it. “Yes… I mean, I sent letters and Mahanon’s as well, but bloody birds never made it, I guess.”

Adrian raised a brow at that. “You sent birds? Like Owls?” He emphasized the owls by waving his hands, motioning of flapping wings. He continued, “We’re not Harry Potter, you know.”

“Hahahaha… fuck you, Adrian.” Danny snapped at him, having enough of that HP bullshit of owls, and Adrian was only confused for such ire.

“Who the frig is _Gary Pothole_?” Sera questioned.

Danny rolled his eyes at the elf, groaning, “It’s _Harry Potter_ , Sera. He’s a wiz— _Mage_. He’s the boy who lived when his parents were killed by this dark sorcerer—”

“Pbbbttttt! Don’t wanna hear it!” She cut him off.

“Uhh… Should we stop them?” Bull interrupted and they all looked over to see Sudoku and Mahanon were engaged in combat… though Mahanon was mostly spending his time avoiding and blocking her attacks.

Danny gestured with his good arm. “I invite you to try and stop them.”

“Hmmm…I think I’ll pass—Holy shit!” Bull cursed aloud as he watched a flying kick from Sudoku and Mahanon easily dodged it, but once she landed, she got down and swept him off his feet with a low kick. The elf landed right on back but he rolled away getting back up.

None of them really panicked though as they let the couple fight it out.

Danny sat down on one of the logs and so did Adrian when Solas questioned them. “What is this about _Harry Potter?_ The Herald has mentioned the story before about the boy being a _wizard_ instead of a mage?”

Danny didn’t want to explain, but he didn’t need to when Adrian jumped right in. “It’s a story. Fiction. He was the boy who _lived_. He temporarily ended a dark sorcerer when he was a baby.”

“ _Temporarily?_ ”

Danny left Adrian for it to explain as he got up and started making dinner for themselves. At this point, they could no longer see Mahanon and Sudoku fighting in plain sight.

While Danny started skinning their kill, Adrian started retelling the Harry Potter series that even Sera, Blackwall, and Bull were more than keen to listen how this child wonder went through this school of magic called Hogwarts where they learn all types of it. Solas was especially interested in this fictitious world that Harry lived in: a world that normal people don’t believe magic exists because mages over the years have kept it hidden from society. The hiding was possible because there were no demons.  Although there would be bad people that would arise, using their powers for evil, there were also those that used their magic for good and would stop the bad people, like Harry against the Lord Voldemort.

They were now eating their meals while Adrian continued to tell the tale, heading towards now to the Chamber of Secrets and the scene of a giant cave filled with horse-sized spiders.

At this point, Mahanon and Sudoku returned, both looking disheveled as their hair and clothing were untidy, suggesting they did more than just fighting. They sat down, joining the campfire as Danny handed them their food. They were adjoined by the hip as usual, Sudoku at Mahanon’s left. Mahanon at Sudoku’s right. The two were together again, and he was sure nothing would separate them now, especially with all the tension building between them.

“I understand now. The basilisk is a serpent. A snake. That is why he can hear the monster’s voice.” Solas scrutinized, and the others got it then.

Bull groaned a bit. He liked to listen to this story, but magic made him cautious. “That is some weird shit. Snakes tongue? This boy able to speak this _parseltongue_?”

“I mentioned that in the first book, remember?” Adrian prompted about the scene where his cousin Dudley fell through the glass and into the snake’s exhibit.

“I remember.”

While they talked, Danny glanced again towards Sudoku and Mahanon and he watched with surprise as Sudoku was touching the elf’s left hand, where the mark was. It charred just slightly as she continued to touch it, but then also massage it.

He frowned… Mahanon said to him before that it wasn’t hurting anymore… Did he lie?

The next morning, they soon find out that the Grey Wardens had left nearly over a week ago, returning to the Western Approach for a meeting of some sort. That was their last chance of meeting any other Grey Wardens, but they had caught up to them too late. For now, they decided to clear out some rifts nearby before they’ll start heading back tomorrow.

They found a rift inside this rocky cavern along with some spiders. Demons came for them as well, making the fighting difficult, but with two extra armed people, it made things easier. Bull noted to Daniel that Sudoku’s an efficient killer. Her blade only needed to slice once in order to completely kill a demon.

Danny re-evaluated and decided that _because_ Sudoku was here, the fight was easier.

When Mahanon was caught in place, connecting to the rift, a demon was heading straight for him. The elf just looked at it before he flicked it off with a middle finger. Somehow, the creature knew what that meant as it roared and charged at him, only for Sudoku to come right at it and sliced it right across, and the wraith ripped diagonally like torn paper. Fucking badass duo.

They easily closed the rift and with that, they started making the journey to Haven, but not after reporting to Haven first via radio.

 

 

They arrived back at Haven three days later and as the Herald head for the war meeting with Sudoku following close, Danny spotted Cassandra not too far away, battering at the poor dummy. He couldn’t help but to approach her.

“Need to practice on another dummy?” He prompted and she turned to face him, raising brow. He quickly added, “I’m not necessarily a dummy though.”

That made her laugh as she eased up.

He smiled. “Want a sparring buddy?” He tried again.

“Are you not tired from the travelling? I’d rather not imposed.” The Seeker said but she was already facing him, shield up and sword ready to swing.

Danny just shrugged as he tossed his backpack to the side, drawing out his tactical blade. His arm shield extended out a bit. “The day is still young. Besides, I have a lot of stamina as I’ve proved to you that night.” He winked at her.

He watched as her cheeks flushed with a lovely shade of red. She let out a disgruntled groan before lashing out with her blade to which he easily blocked. They started to spar, keeping a steady pace. After sparring with the Seeker from time to time, Danny was getting exceptionally well with a blade.

“So… was that _Sudoku_ with the Herald?”

“Yup.”

“Her eyes are…”

“She’s part cat.” He explained untruthfully and he saw that Cassandra believed him. He let it be like that.

Asians like Sudoku were not common here in Thedas, especially their almond-shaped eyes, angled slightly that made them resemble like cats.

Then Cassandra scoffed, “So I’m assuming Corporal Kano is part cat then?”

Danny nodded. “You bet… Hey, since we’re in the subject of cats, did you know Dalish elves can purr?”

She paused from their fighting, staring at him skeptically before she had this deadpanned look as she asked him this question, “You were only ‘pulling my leg’ this entire time, weren’t you?”

Danny responded with a laugh, making Cassandra attack him more as she swung her blade at him dangerously.

After an hour of lunch, they rested for fifteen minutes before Danny offered her to have lunch with him. Surprisingly, she agreed and they headed to the tavern to eat. Along the way, the Seeker asked him if he read any books. He didn’t read a lot of books but he did watch stories, and somehow, he ended up telling her stories. Romantic ones especially, and he had gotten a strange reaction from the Seeker. He didn’t know she was the romance type until now.

“When he walked into her office, he saw paintings of him. Hazy and blurry in its artistic ways, but it is definitely his face on all the canvases… She remembered him in her dreams… And she asked him, who are you? In a desperate tone, wanting to know him.”

“Ohh…” Cassandra softly gasp.

Daniel was retelling a story of the movie the 50 First Dates. Quite an old movie, but the 21st century movies was when awesome movies were created. Thank all for the streaming and data saving for those of the past that downloaded these iconic movies, or Signum would never be this cultured.

“He could no longer stay away from her, and she couldn’t take another dream of him without him being there.”

“So, then what happened?”

“Um, there was a time skip. You know, a move forward and such—”

Cassandra groaned and hurried him up, “I know what that is. Now what happened?”

Danny leaned in, gesturing, “She woke up in a boat and there was a video tape waiting for her. It showed everything of the past events…and so much more to them getting married… It ended there and when she walked out of the cabin up in the surface, there was Henry waiting for her and their daughter, _Nichole_. They were also in the middle of the icy waters of Alaska. The story ended there.”

“What did you call the condition this _Lucy_ had?” Varric questioned as he had been listening this entire time, along with the others that were there in the table next to theirs.

Daniel turned around on his seat and answered, “ _Anterograde amnesia_. There are different types of it, and there’s always a slight variation of it depending on people… Or call it short-term memory loss. Your creative license.”

The dwarf chuckled. “I can’t actually claim it within my creation when it’s already created, Charming.”

“What is _Alaska?_ ” One Inquisition soldier asked.

“It’s a cold, cold place. Colder than Ferelden. It snows all the time.”

When there were no more questions about the movie, Cassandra had another inquiry of her own personal curiosity.

“Danny, are you a bard? Or a minstrel?”

“Hmm? Uh…. No.”

“But you play and sing well.”

“Ah, well thank you. You know I mentioned to you that Signum had this _academy_ , right?” Danny asked, now lowering his voice so only the Seeker could hear.

Cassandra leaned in to listen closer as she nodded to him. “Yes, and that you and selected others were in a special education program from it.”

“Yes. Well. While our program is more advanced, it has been professed that musical enrichment was a necessary subject to take. Not only that, but it is to keep the music of the Old alive and well.” Danny told her. “That song we sang? The _It’s my Life_ song? It’s over 500 years old…we are taught to learn of these pre-war classic songs.”

Cassandra was surprised at how much their history can date back and still remember. She responded, “Unfortunately, our history does not remain that intact... except for the Chantry. I never did ask, but does Signum follow the Maker?”

“We have learned of him upon the textures given, the story of Andraste, Bride of the Maker, and everything else, but… well, I can’t speak for everyone. Signum has a religious freedom rule.”

“ _Religious_ _freedom?_ ”

“Anyone can follow any sort of religion so long as it doesn’t hinder society’s progress or break any laws,” Danny explained. “Like for example, polygamous marriage—the practice of marrying multiple spouses—is illegal. We have a group of people called Mormons, and usually they practice polygamy but we don’t sanction marriages of more than one spouse. While it’s beneficial because of the support system and financial stability it would give, it is morally wrong because it can lead to abuse and neglect, and it can negatively affect children---I’m rambling, but that is one of the examples of following a religion so long as it doesn’t break any rules.”

Cassandra nodded as she understood. “Thus, any of you Signum can follow the chant.”

“Yeah. It’s perfectly legal, so far, from what I’ve read of the Maker.”

“And what do you believe, Danny?”

Danny paused at that, giving it a moment to have some thought before giving her his answer,

“I believe there is an omnipotent holy figure—God or Maker—watching over us, _but_ I do not believe He or She has any hand in all the events that are happening.”

She tilted her head. “You do not believe the Maker sent the Herald to us?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t disagree that he was exactly what we needed, but I don’t think it was the Maker or Andraste that pushed him to us. Besides, I’m sure you’ve already heard Mahanon’s opinion about it all. He doesn’t believe in Gods; he believes in good people… he puts his faith in _us_.”

The Seeker frowned deeply at that and Danny wasn’t sure if it was disapproval or perhaps a struggle in her belief and faith in the Maker, so quickly he added, “However, that doesn’t mean your belief is any less true. That’s the beauty of religious freedom, Cass. It doesn’t matter what other people believe. It only matters what _you_ believe. Don’t let the opinions of other people or even me get in the way of your faith.”

That made her relax, her eyes softening, realizing his words as she let out a soft sigh of relief. “I see… Thank you, Danny.”

“Anytime, Cass. Anytime.”

Somehow the two of them spent the entire day together, not realizing how much time had just gone by with the just them talking and sharing stories. It wasn’t until a messenger came running, asking for Danny’s presence into the Ambassador Josie’s office. Cassandra guessed that it must be about Signum and its reputation. The gossip not only talked about the Inquisition, but as well as Signum and their involvement.

So, Danny walked over to the Chantry and his steps slowed down a bit, noticing an elven girl talking with Mother Giselle. He slowed down a moment, seeing the mark on her forehead. She felt the staring, looking towards Danny, and Danny hastened his pace, walking passed them uncomfortably. Tranquility… He had heard of it, but first time seeing it… He shook his head. Not his problem, for now.

He walked into Josephine’s office.

“You needed to see me, Josie?” Danny asked. His time around in Haven had made him quite amiable and familiar with the important Inquisition members that he could call the Ambassador, just Josie.

“Yes. Please sit.” She gestured to the chair across her desk as she set her quill down. “I’ve been meaning to ask you about Signum. More so than what you’ve given us so far, if possible. The world out there is not only curious with the Inquisition, but more so on Signum since we have gotten your unrequited support.”

“Unrequited?” Daniel questioned as he sat down.

“Signum has been spreading word of the good deeds provided by the Inquisition, especially about the Herald.” Josie explained. “But there are people questioning Signum’s intentions. They are…starting to suspect that you and your people may be more than a merchant guild.”

Danny chuckled. “You know, I never did say we were a Merchant Guild…but you want me to clear up the confusion, or what? Make a stance?”

Josie dipped her quill into the ink pot as she was getting ready to take notes. “Well, from what we agreed, we cannot speak of Signum’s origins, so how about a little bit of what life is like in Signum? It would calm the nerves of everyone questioning of Signum if they know a little bit of your people.”

That made sense. “Where do you want me to start?”

“You’ve mentioned you’re in an advance program in this _Academy?_ ”

“Signum Academy, and yes. Me, and a group of others, varying ages, were placed into the program in hopes that in the future we take over. We become political, influential figures. However, let’s not go into too much details in that. There is a law in Signum that once a child hits the age of four years old, he or she is to attend the Academy and learn, and that’s where they will be for the next fourteen years.”

Josie blinked. “Away from their families?”

“Hahaha, yes. For at least six hours a day from Monday to Friday. Then after school, they go home.”

“That’s… and it’s free?”

“Yes.”

“What do they learn?”

“Everything basic like for example how a seed grows into a tree sapling, how plants and photosynthesis work, how there are different blood types of people, and how to resuscitate someone if they’re not breathing—”

Josie paused at that. “ _That_ can be taught? What you did to the Herald? I remember after he attempted to close the breach, Leliana said he had stopped breathing and _you_ brought him back to life.”

“ _Cardiopulmonary resuscitation_ , or CPR, is a technique used to save lives in the cases that the person have stopped breathing or that his or her heartbeat had stopped.”

“And that is taught at the academy?”

“Among other things.”

Daniel let her write down things silently as she seemed to be focus on that. After a moment, she then asked, “What of your mages?”

“…we don’t have any mages. At least not yet.” He deliberately left out Anders. No need for them to know.

“…No mage? At all?” She gaped.

He waved her off nonchalantly, “We’ve only been here for seven years, Josie, but…yeah. Back from our world, there was no magic. There’s no such thing as magic.” He emphasized that sentence, making sure she understood that. “There was no fade. No spirits… There were demons though, but not malformed creatures, rather bad people… Quite often enough, evil is always found in people… so imagine our surprise when people can throw fireballs _out of nowhere_. Magic would be an amazing thing, if only it didn’t come with demons and the fade, and… Anyway, we have no mages.”

She took a moment to gather herself, processing all this information as she jutted them down as notes on her writing. “…How did your world become a wasteland?”

“…There was this… big explosion. Several of them all across the world, and they were big… You saw the explosion at the temple, right? Imagine that, but then bigger. Big enough to erase a city as large as Val Royeaux. We called them _Nuclear Weapons_ … At the time, technology was still advancing into greater heights. It was a taboo and that no one would dare fire those weapons, which could potentially destroy humanity… Hahaha…someone did. Something did. Several Nuclear missiles were sent across the world, and it destroyed not only cities, but governments, existing structures… The place had no more law than it did non-polluted waters. For me, that would be five hundred years, and five centuries after that explosion, the Earth didn’t get any better… It kept getting worse.”

“…Maker…” she had stopped, writing now, staring eyes-wide at Danny.

“Do you still have those weapons?” Danny flinched a bit as he turned around when he saw it was Leliana. She had walked in probably as he was explaining that state of planet earth.

“No. We left all those nuclear weapons behind.”

Leliana furrowed her brows. “And the plans of it?”

“Gone. Destroyed… My people are not going to make the same mistake.” Danny promised her. “And if anyone ever tries, we’ll stop them, even if it means killing them…”

“We believe you, Danny.” Josie interceded as she looked up at her friend, “Leli. Is there something you need?”

“I was here looking for Danny to talk about something, but I see there are some matters here needed to discuss,” she said as she walked over to join them, getting behind Josie’s desk and leaning against the wall. “What are you questioning him for?”

“How people in Signum live their day to day lives, but I suppose we went off track. We were talking about how Signum doesn’t have any mages…?”

Danny nodded. “None at all. It hasn’t happened yet of a child with magic powers, but we’ll tackle that once it happens. Otherwise, we live quite peacefully in Signum. We easily hold the darkspawn back with no problems due to our advance weapons… we also make our own signature gadgets and outfits to try and sell to neighboring Free Marcher Cities… Oh! We also utilize lyrium to power the city.”

“Utilize lyrium to power the city?” Leliana questioned.

Danny went into an explanation how they’re using lyrium as batteries. It lasts forever with their equipment, and even with his phone by a small crystallized amount. He even went ahead to show them his phone again.

Leliana eventually got the chance to discuss with him about utilizing the _radio_ in every camp hold if possible. The idea was intriguing enough and it will definitely make it more time convenient thus it’d be faster for the Inquisition to react. He’ll need to talk about it with Kano and see if they can set that up and train some Thedosians on how to use the radio.

After a while longer of elaborating the gist of how Signum people live, it was already sun down and Danny left the chantry tired and bit parched. That was a lot of talking.

Also, he was tired. He’ll have to sleep because he was sure that they were leaving again tomorrow, heading to Redcliffe. He had heard Mahanon voicing out that they should probably look into the mages first since Former Enchanter Fiona was offering an alliance.

While he walked to his cabin, he slowed down when he saw Cullen and a guard running towards Mahanon’s cabin. Worried of the commotion, he followed as well.

Danny got there when Cullen was knocking on the door. “Yo! What’s going on here?”

There were disruptive noises coming from inside the place like vases breaking, or furniture toppled…were they fighting still? It’s out of character really.

The guard stammered. “Th-the Herald and this woman were fighting inside, and the door is locked, but I tried to knock, and they wouldn’t answer. Things just kept breaking in there, it sounded.”

He blinked. Oh shit.

“Herald! Are you alright? I’m coming in!” Cullen called as he banged on the door again.

“Ah, Cullen? Maybe we should just leave them alone?” Danny tried to get the Commander to stop, but he was too late.

The noises and crashes have stopped, which worried them for a moment, until footsteps were heard coming right to the door. The door opened…

Mahanon was there, naked in all his glory. Ripped and a little battered, some scars here and there, but overall in perfect health. Naked as well if that was not mentioned. The soldier was gawking at the six pack abs and chiseled chest… Their jaw drops even more, including Cullen, when a naked Sudoku strode over and placed herself next to the elf. Mahanon wrapped an arm around her.

“May I help you gentlemen?” He asked.

Danny had already turned away when he saw Sudoku walking in. Ew! He thought. Sudoku was like a sister to him, so seeing her naked was…eugh.

However, the Commander and the guard took a little longer to look away as Mahanon cleared his throat to get them to snap out of it. They did and they bashfully turned their heads away. Their faces were both flushing red.

“There was… this soldier reported that you and... _your companion_ were fighting.”

“ _Fiancée_.” Mahanon corrected him, claiming Sudoku. “And no, we were just-”

Sudoku giggled. “We were just redecorating the cabin, _Commander_.”

“Yes… We were redecorating.” There was laughter in his tone, but holy shit, their sex was breaking the cabin apart. “Anything else?”

“N-no--” The Commander was stammering now, all flushed and beet red, knowing that they had interrupted something very intimate, and Mahanon was taking this all in a stride, finding only humor.

“Good night, Commander. Danny.” Mahanon said as he closed the door on us. Moments later, the noises continued. Thump here and there.

All three moved away and Cullen threw a glare at the guard, who looked bashfully.

Danny saved the guard, chuckling, “Hey Cullen! Guess what?”

He turned to Danny, looking irate and still embarrassed. “What?”

“I’m telling Varric!”

“Don’t--! Ugh!”

Danny laughed and he roped the Commander in for a drink in payment for him to be quiet of this embarrassing night, _and_ to celebrate the official union between the two.

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“We have the locations of the Templar encampment and the Mage encampment. I should think we’re ready to proceed now.”

“Ahh, you want us to hit both places. Is that why you brought many of us?” Daniel asked.

They were at one of the holding camps in the Hinterlands just a little north west from the Crossroads. Upon the entourage, the collective companions were Cassandra, Bull, Vivienne, Varric, Sudoku, Danny, and Adrian.

The Herald nodded. “Yes. My team will hit the templars. Danny, yours will get the Mages.”

Danny saluted, fist to heart. “As you wish, _Messiah_.”

Mahanon grimaced a look. “Don’t call me that.”

“ _Messiah?”_ Bull questioned and Varric whispered the answer to him, “Messenger of ‘God’ or their Maker. Something like that.”

Cassandra frowned, crossing her arms, as she looked to Danny before questioning Mahanon, “Are you sure they will be alright on their own? Three against the rogue mages?”

“ _Ohhh?_ You worried about me, Seeker?” Danny piped in before winking at her. “I’m flattered.”

The Seeker gave him an unimpressed look before waving at him nonchalantly, grabbing her shield and walking away. “Never mind. Let us press forward, Herald.”

“Yo! Seeker, thou wound my aching heart!”

She didn’t bother to make a response to that, pretending not to hear him.

Mahanon, Varric, and even Bull took a moment to exchange looks between a walking-away Cassandra and a leftover Daniel, questioning. Varric decided to take mental notes of it while Mahanon was wondering if there was something there that wasn’t there before…

Daniel noticed their looks and inquired, “What? Something on my face?”

“Nothing.” Mahanon prompted as he gestured the two to follow as they went west.

Vivienne, on the other hand, huffed. “My dear, you know so much and yet so very little.” Then she turned, following the party that would go and defeat the Templars.

Danny shrugged and gathered his party, going east to invade the rogue mage encampment.

It was utterly ridiculous how easily they invaded the mage encampment and got rid of the ones that decided they didn’t want to surrender…which was all of them, by the way. They didn’t want to give up, and Signum team didn’t have a choice. Adrian infiltrated their base first by possessing a mage inside and attacking them there. That’s when Danny and Sudoku rushed in to attack. Danny extended his shield to cover both Sudoku and Adrian, cancelling out magic attacks. Sudoku was a beast as she easily picked up a wagon full of supplies and threw it across at two archers. When it was over, the whole place was a mess and no enemy was left standing.

Then, they looted the entire place before gathering the bodies outside. They started to burn the bodies, rather than burying it as that was the culture of this place. Daniel had once asked why, then Mahanon said that sometimes the undead would rise because spirits would possess the corpses. Well, shit.

They took their time before deciding to return to the nearest holding camp. They arrived there earlier before Mahanon’s team did and immediately shared information.

“That’s it then. No more templars and mages fighting in this area. What now?” Danny asked.

They were all sitting around the campfire, sore and tired. Thankfully, none of them were gravely injured, just some bruises and cuts. Sudoku was off the side, sharpening her blade traditionally with water and whetstone. Adrian was already sleeping. The rest were keeping warm at the fire.

 “We’re going to Redcliffe tomorrow. At least see what the Former Enchanter Fiona has to offer. They are the only ones currently offering aid to close the breach unlike the Templars.” He was careful with his words, knowing such a topic was sensitive to Cassandra.

Course, Danny didn’t know sensitivity. “Dude. That was just fucked up what they did.”

Mahanon had to nudge him a bit; however, Cassandra didn’t react as badly as he had thought as she let out a heavy sigh. “The Lord Seeker must have a reason… it just doesn’t make sense.”

“In a world where twisted things happen like the explosion of the conclave? People are going to do crazy things.” Danny explained to her like it’s a matter of fact. “Especially when they have the power and the authority to do so.”

Then, Vivienne interceded. “Like your people, Danny?”

Danny blinked. “Pardon?”

“From what I hear of all the rumors, the odd machines, and those lethal weapons called _guns_ , I would consider Signum as both power and authority. When do you think your people will lash out to the world?” She asked, her eyes piercing right at his.

Now, Danny had never talked to Vivienne before. He had shared only so few words and he mostly avoided her because she was too proper for him, and something about her made him cringe, though he remained as civil and polite with her if possible. She had also been informed just only a few things about Signum, excluding the secret of being from another world. So, for her to question him now… Well, he supposed now is better than later.

“Um…How you mean by lashing out?”

“Already your people’s influence is spreading from the Free Marchers and out here in the Southern Thedas, and no doubt may have touched Orlais… Should we expect an invasion soon? A hostile takeover?”

Danny scoffed at the idea. “Why invade when we already live here? Thedas is our home now… which is why we’re helping the Inquisition. They’re to restore order in the world, and Signum wants to help.”

Vivienne hummed at that curiously.

“They treat elves, dwarves, and qunari as their equals, Lady Vivienne,” Mahanon began to speak, defending Danny and Signum. As far as he knew, Signum had become a part of their clan as they are a part of Signum. “They built a whole neighborhood for us—not an alienage because they still welcome us into their city. They would feed the mercenary Vashoth that are transporting _goods_ for them… They even took in the last line of Harrowmont… They nearly didn’t at first, but when they heard the surviving heir had a wife and two children, they rescinded and took them in, despite the risks and danger.”

“So yes. Maybe they seem dangerous… threatening… powerful…and _out of this world_.” Danny threw a glare for that insinuation, but the Herald only continued, “But they are our allies…”

Vivienne raised a brow at such a commending speech about Signum. “And what of their mages?”

“We don’t have any mages,” Danny cut in. “…But I don’t treat the First nor the Keeper of Clan Lavellan any different. Magic to us is just a tool…like how a sword is or a gun… And after killing a bunch of Tevinter slavers, especially those with magic, guns seem to win against magic, because no barrier is strong enough to stop a bullet… Perhaps that’s why we know the danger, but we don’t fear it…  It’s why we see magic as only a tool, I suppose. It’s convenient, but not something we use to discriminate.”

Vivienne narrowed her eyes. “Magic is like fire, Danny. If you play with it, you’ll only burn yourself.”

“We heed that warning very well, Madame Vivienne. But like burning yourself, you learn from it… you’ll learn to harness and control fire, and it’s why we have fireplaces, torches, candles, stone ovens… if Fire is like magic, then magic is evidently a tool regardless of the danger.” Danny swiftly added in. “…Whether it’s good or bad will solely depend on the user. Right?”

She let out a hmphed before falling into silence, but she didn’t seem too put off, rather more so in deep thought of his words.

The night ended without so much as an argument but a restful sleep.

 

 

 

“Whoooaaa! Holy fuck!” Danny cursed aloud as he backed away from the strange, wide yellow rings on the ground that was slowing everyone down, except for him. The lesser shades were even going too slow as they raised their claws. Sudoku was just drawing out her blade, Mahanon pulling his arrow, Cassandra charging with her shield, Vivienne casting an ice spell, Bull lifting his maul, and Varric already firing a bolt—but the bolt moved too slow.

Worse was that everyone was aware of the slow-motion effect, and Danny seemed to be the only one immune of it.

Danny got back into the yellow circles, time anomaly not affecting him as he roughly pulled them out of the yellow rings, one by one. Vivienne’s spell was notably cancelled, her magic gone when he grabbed her and pulled her out, but it came back on after he went to get Bull, getting away from her. It was something to note.

When they got out of it, they were moving at normal speed and finished off the demons that were trapped in the slow circles. Afterwards, Mahanon pulled at the rift, and more demons came. The fight continued as they avoided the strange yellow and even green rings.

Finally, it was over. They had a moment to breathe before they all turned to Danny questionably, excluding Sudoku and Mahanon, whom knew the truth.

“…Ha…ha… what?” Danny asked, noticing their stares.

“What did you do?” Cassandra demanded.

“Uhh….huh…?”

“It didn’t affect you.” Bull emphasized for the Seeker, and they waited for an explanation. Danny looked to Sudoku and Mahanon, and the two were looking at him as if they didn’t know anything either and were staring at him questionably as well, pretending not to know.

Bastards.

“…What? You think I know why?” Danny asked incredulously. “I’m just as shocked that you guys started going slow motion on me. I thought you all went insane or something, that was crazy!” He exclaimed.

“Were you once a Templar, Danny? …My magic went away when you grabbed me.” Vivienne pointed out.

Danny played it off again, shrugging. “Don’t know. Maybe when I pulled you out of the slow ring, your magic stop? Interference or something like that? I really don’t know. Heck! Mahanon, that rift wasn’t fucking normal.”

Mahanon straightened up, going along with the topic change. “No… No, it wasn’t. The rift was manipulating time spaces.”

Cassandra grunted a disgusted noise. “Magic.”

“Something vile is definitely at work here.” Vivienne said as she still eyed Danny suspiciously. “Perhaps an apostate going mad, like those group of mages worshipping the rifts.”

“We won’t find answers out here.” Sudoku ended it there.

“Gate is opening.” Adrian cut in, pointing at the obvious sight before them with the Redcliffe guard praising the Maker that the blasted rift was closed.

Mahanon head in first with the others following while Varric fell behind with Danny.

“Everything alright there, Charming? What just happened there with you?” Varric asked and there was concern in his tone.

Danny sighed. “No clue. Really.” He insisted in his lies.

When they got inside Redcliffe, they had heard that the Arl and his family were forced out by Tevinter visitors that were here to commit the rebel mages into indentured service. What the hell had happened?

“Ugh. Just what is the meaning of this?” Cassandra was already fuming at all this nonsense, and the whole group shared her feelings at this frustration.

“Mahanon. Didn’t you say that Fiona lady was going to ally with you? Why go around your back to side with none other than a Vint?” Danny demanded in a low whisper.

Mahanon looked just as confused. “I… I don’t know. It was certainly her at Val Royeaux that invited us. Cassandra even confirmed its’ her.”

“Just let me know when you need me to cut his head off.” Sudoku said, causing the others to look at her warily. She even had her hand on the grip of the sword.

Mahanon sweetly responded, “Thank you, love, but I think we need to avoid violence here.”

Varric then chuckled. “Is this the norm for you, Sparrow? Cutting and Slicing?”

“Yes…And _Sparrow?_ ” She asked questionably, tilting her head.

“The nickname I have for you.” Varric said, rather proud of himself. The four of them (Adrian included) looked at the dwarf incredulously for the chosen nickname. Little did the dwarf know, Sudoku’s real name is of a bird.

“Wait. Why Sparrow?” Mahanon asked as he too was surprised.

Varric noticed now that the nickname might be a hit as he explained, “Because she’s _swift_ as a sparrow.”

Danny and Adrian both laughed and Mahanon also chuckled a bit. Sudoku frowned a bit. “…My nickname is already Sudoku.”

That surprised those that didn’t know. Bull then asked, “Sudoku isn’t your name? What _is_ your name?”

She stuck her tongue out at Bull. “Not telling.”

“Then Sparrow it is.” Varric decided proudly as she let out a groan.

Adrian was curious, asking, “What’s mine?”

“Dreamer. You always tend to sleep.”

Mahanon and Danny sniggered at that as Adrian pouted, and Vivienne cut in, insisting urgently, “We need to speak to Fiona at once.” The fun times went away as the seriousness blanketed the atmosphere. This was no joke after all, the free mages were being indentured to a Tevinter Magister.

They went inside and there was Fiona and a couple of other mages with her in the Tavern. Negotiations were being prepared as the tavern had been cleared out. Now they’re just missing the Tevinter party. They approached the former enchanter for now as she greeted them politely.

“Welcome, Agents of the Inquisition.” She bowed her head in acknowledgement then her brown eyes narrowed at the familiar face in their group. She acknowledged her as well, curtly, “First Enchanter Vivienne.”

“My dear Fiona, it’s been so long since we last spoke.” Vivienne began with this over the top pleasantry and Danny was almost sure he could hear the Orlesian theme song playing behind her greeting. “You look dreadful! Are you sleeping well?”

Fiona looked away from her, not even responding to such pleasantry as she turned to Mahanon, clearly the leader of this rabble group. “What has brought you to Redcliffe?”

At this point, Danny was thinking… was she serious?

“Was that a trick question?” Danny couldn’t help but to voice out, which only confused the Former enchanter.

She blinked. “I don’t…”

Mahanon interceded. “We’re here because of your invitation back in Val Royeaux.”

Her brows only furrowed more as she responded, “You must be mistaken. I haven’t been to Val Royeaux since before the Conclave.”

Now, Danny was wondering if Mahanon had gone insane, but then that would be implying that Cassandra, Varric, and Solas had also lost their marbles. He turned to Varric and he looked just as bewildered even though he was keeping a straight face. Cassandra looked between bring crossed and appalled.

“There is no mistake.” Mahanon curtly corrected her. “While the templars were leaving, you came to Val Royeaux and asked me here.”

Her eyes then widened in surprise. “The templars left Val Royeaux? Where did they go? That sounds… why does that sound so strange…?” She asked herself now with uncertainty.

They all looked at her strangely after that and she shook her head. She looked more solemn now as she stated, “Whoever or whatever brought you here… the situation has changed. The Free Mages have already pledged themselves to the service of the Tevinter Imperium.”

“Well shit…” Varric shook his head.

Sudoku scoffed and audibly commented. “ _Enslaved_ mages then, rather than free.”

“Ugh.” Cassandra was just pinching the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache rising from this stressing situation.

Bull also pointed out, disgusted, “This right here is why you can’t trust mages.”

Vivienne did not look so surprised, “Fiona Dear, your dementia is showing…”

Fiona shook her head, only continuing, “As one indentured to a magister, I no longer have the authority to negotiate with you.”

Mahanon looked the least bit happy of this arrangement, and his arms were crossed now, as he was looking quite irritated with the former enchanter. No one hated Tevinter more than Mahanon did… and maybe Danny as well. All of them do, in fact.

“Very well. Tell me who is in charge then.”

“Welcome, my friends!”

Danny tried not to flinch but he couldn’t hide his grimace as they all slowly turned around to see some Tevinter bastards walking inside the bar. He was smiling openly with the fakest charming atmosphere; however, civility was required here, something that Danny didn’t bother acknowledging. At least not with these bastards.

The magister continued. “I apologize for not greeting you earlier.”

 “ _Wala silang kahihiyan._ ” Danny spoke. “ _Diba? Tayo nag sira ang_ rift _pero walang pagpapasalamat_.”

Sudoku crossed her arms, responding, “ _Oo nga…_ ”

Everyone was confused of the language but Mahanon quietly shushed them. Thankfully, Former Enchanter Fiona decided to continue the introductions. “Ahem… Agents of the Inquisition. Allow me to introduce: Magister Gereon Alexius.”

Alexius gave Sudoku and Danny a strange look before his attention landed back on Mahanon. He too also peered over this so-called Herald. After all, he was also wearing the similarly advanced equipment and gear that both Danny and Sudoku had… as well as that infamous mark upon his left hand.

“The Southern Mages are under my command, and _you_ are the survivor, yes? The one from the fade? Interesting.”

Sudoku gripped her sword tightly and even unsheathed it just a little bit, making that metal sliding sound as she moved close to Mahanon’s side, protectively. If looks could kill, Alexius would be drop dead on the floor. “ _Kung siya sakitan ka, ako mag papatay sa kaniya._ ”

“Easy, Sudoku.” Mahanon whispered to her, seeing Alexius and his men flinching a bit. “I can’t help but notice that there aren’t any sign of Redcliffe’s Arl or his men.”

Alexius relaxed but only a bit as he gestured, “The Arl of Redcliffe left the village. There were… _tensions_ growing. I did not want an incident.”

“ _Ah… tag umalis sila._ ” Danny said, crossing his arms. “ _Ang kaniyang mga salita ay mura._ ”

Adriana nodded. “ _Siempre._ ”

Sudoku added, “ _Kasinungalingan lamang pati ng ngiti._ ”

Alexius could no longer ignore the blatant disrespect of them talking in a foreign language that he was sure they were talking about him. “I’m sorry, but are your associates from _Signum?_ Do they not speak common?” His posture more erect as his eyes linger with interests over the strangers.

“No, they do not.” Mahanon lied through his teeth and the mages were just surprised but didn’t call him out on his lie. “Though they are asking what sort of alliance you’ve made with the free mages.”

“Ahh, so you can understand them… Where are they from?”

“Far from here.” It was all that Mahanon was sharing as he pressed forward with more questions about the free mages.

Danny watched, arms cross with a disgusted expression as the Magister continue to speak. Jesus. Just his voice and already his hand was itching to grab a pistol and shoot him down—end all this nonsense. It really didn’t matter to him if there would be a diplomatic crisis if he killed one more magister… But then that’s why Mahanon was in charge right now. Still, he was surprised of the Herald. Mahanon was handling his rage very well. Danny knew though that there was no way that this wasn’t bothering Mahanon at a higher level since it was Tevinter’s fault that half of his clan were dead. He could understand the loss…the hate…

Or was the Herald learning that one rotten apple doesn’t make the whole grove spoiled…

Oh shit, has he been referring Mahanon as the Herald?

Danny straightened up when he noticed _Felix_ —Alexius’ son, who had come back after fetching a scriber—was stumbling about. His face didn’t look pale though, but his eyes seemed to roll back a bit as he started to sway. Mahanon noticed as well as he stood up and went straight for son of the Magister. Felix collapsed right to him, perhaps a little too forcefully. Sudoku was about to draw her blade, but Danny reached out, grabbing her hand and stopping her. He gave her one look. Wait. She resigned with a grunt as she sheathed her blade, relaxing only a bit.

“Felix?” Alexius called out alarmed as he stood up from his chair and raced towards his son.

“I-I’m fine. I’m… just feeling a bit ill.” He spoke wearily, his voice a bit uneasy but Danny could see right through the act. What was he doing?

Right then, Alexius dismissed them all, saying that he’ll send a letter to the Inquisition so that they could continue negotiations at a later date. He left the tavern with his son, along with Fiona of whom he beckoned to come and assist.

Danny couldn’t help but to see his own father in Alexius… It was the same high-strung worry and mothering that Danny had experienced long ago when he had first gotten out of the hospital after the…incident. He was allowed to go home, but he still got sick from time to time, and even just a little stumble or throwing up food, his father would immediately take him to Dr. Bell to examine. To sum it up, something was definitely wrong with Felix.

“What did he give you?” Sudoku questioned as she noticed a crumpled-up paper in Mahanon’s hand.

Mahanon unraveled it and read, “ _Come to the Chantry. You are in danger._ ”

“It’s a trap.” Adrian immediately piped in, confident in his observation.

Vivienne turned her nose away from it, chin raised, “Of course, it’s a trap, my dear.”

“There’s no telling what we might find there.” Varric pointed out, but he sounded all for it to find out.

Cassandra then piped in, “We’ll not find anything if we continue to stand here.”

Danny nudged the elf. “Well… Let’s go check it out? _Messiah?_ ”

Mahanon’s nose cringed in annoyance as he answered, “Yes… And stop calling me that.”

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.

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Tagalog Translation:

“Wala silang kahihiyan.” Danny spoke. “Diba? Tayo nag sira ang rift pero walang pagpapasalamat.”

Sudoku crossed her arms, responding, “Oo nga…”

          “They have no shame.” Danny spoke. “Right? We close the rift yet we don’t get any thanks.”

          Sudoku crossed her arms, responding, “Agreed…”

 

 

“Kung siya sakitan ka, ako mag papatay sa kaniya.”

“Easy, Sudoku.” Mahanon whispered to her

             “If he hurts you, I’m killing him.”

             “Easy, Sudoku.” Mahanon whispered to her

 

 

 

“ _Ah… tag umalis sila._ ” Danny said, crossing his arms. “ _Ang kaniyang mga salita ay mura._ ”

Adriana nodded. “ _Siempre._ ”

Sudoku added, “ _Kasinungalingan lamang pati ng ngiti._ ”

                   “Ah… they made them leave.” Danny said, crossing his arms. “All his talk are lies.”

                    Adriana nodded. “Definitely.”

                     Sudoku added, “He lies anyway with a smile.”


	19. She Will Be Loved

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Danny eyed at the figure suspiciously, his brow raising at this superfluous fellow with a moustache as he bashed a demon with his staff until it was reduced to nothing but black goo.

He turned to them, moustache quirking, saying, “Good! You’re finally here! Now help me close this, would you?”

With the rift and demons cluttering in this holy chantry, Danny couldn’t help but be reminded of the first Kingsman movie scene of a church fight. It’s a bit of a sacrilege but what were they going to do? There were demons in the place!

The team they currently have were efficient demon killers. Already, they can expect where the terror demon would pop out and strike. Cassandra only needed to side step before thrusting her blade to its back when it comes out and Varric fires bolts right to its face. They were practically just cleaning the house.

It didn’t take long for the fight to last as Mahanon closed the rift for the third time, stitching the fabric of the veil as it let out a loud pop.

When it was over, moustache guy turned to them and their attention was towards him as well.

“Fascinating. How does that work exactly?”

Danny grimaced. Ugh. Tevinter.

“You don’t even know, do you? You just wiggle your fingers, and boom! Rift closes.”

Sudoku crossed her arms, leaning back slightly towards Mahanon, whom raised an unimpressed brow at the moustache guy.

“Who are you?” Mahanon demanded with an aloof look, sharing his dislike of Tevinter.

The Vint retracted but still keeping his poise and charm. “Ah. Getting ahead of myself again, I see.” He bowed. “Dorian of House Pavus, most recently of Minrathous. How do you do?”

Bull grunted, “Watch yourself. The pretty ones are always the worst.”

Dorian just smiled, happily pointing out, “Suspicious friends you have here.”

Adrian couldn’t help but snort at that and Sudoku elbowed him to be quiet. Danny looked back at Adrian who put on a straight face and also crossed his arms.

This Dorian continued, claiming to be a former apprentice of Magister Alexius, studying under him. He also got snarky after being asked if he was a Magister himself, explaining the difference of a magister and an Altus. Danny supposed that a Magister would be like being a Senator or something like that, but only powerful noble mages exclusively. When asked about Felix, Dorian mentioned he had an illness lasting for months now. Felix was at least Alexius’ weakness at the moment, though he supposed it’s not enough to deter the magister from doing weird shit. Dorian then started to explain about the weird shit of how Alexius managed to claim the allegiance of the rebel mages through time magic.

Time. Magic.

Vivienne scoffed. “Manipulating time itself? Many have attempted over the ages, but never once succeeded.”

Dorian defended, “The rift you closed here? You saw how it twisted time around itself, sped somethings up, and slowed others down? Soon, there’ll be more like it, and they’ll appear further and further away from Redcliffe. The magic Alexius is using is wildly unstable, and it’s unraveling the world.”

Mahanon crossed his arms, thinking for a moment, before nodding, saying, “Alright. It’s not _that_ farfetched.”

“I know what I’m talking about. I helped develop this magic—Oh…You believe me?” Dorian stopped himself as he processed what the Herald had said.

“You can’t be serious.” Vivienne expressed her disapproval, and even the others were eyeing Mahanon questionably.

Daniel protested. “Dude! Seriously. Manipulating time? That’s a load of crap!”

Mahanon whirled around, turning at him with a disbelief look as he fire back, “Load of crap--? _Kayo nag lumapit sa ibag daigdig!_ ”

Translation: _You guys came from another world_. That gave Danny a pause as he closed his mouth shut to stop from protesting as he looked to Adrian and Sudoku whom were also nodding at that, seeing his point.

Despite the others confusion of the strange language they were speaking, Danny continued, waving at Mahanon. “Nevermind, you’re right. Time magic is a possibility. But why though? Why does Tevinter want this large group of mages? From what Alexius was telling Fiona, I don’t think it’s to liberate them.”

“He didn’t do it for them.” Felix cut in, as he walked into join the discussion. “I apologize for my tardiness. I shouldn’t have played the illness card. I thought my father would be fussing over me all day… Anyway, my father’s joined a cult. Tevinter supremacists. They call themselves Venatori. And I can tell you one thing: Whatever he’s done for them, he’s done it to get to you.” He addressed Mahanon, looking at him gravely.

Mahanon frowned, tilting his head. “Alexius is your father. Why are you working against him?”

“For the same reason Dorians works against him… I love my father, and I love my country, but this? Cults? Time magic? What he’s doing now is madness. For his own sake, you have to stop him.” Felix looked quite resolute of that, and Danny had to admit that this one might be a special snowflake or something.

Dorian had to add, “It would also be nice if he didn’t rip a hole in time. There’s already a hole in the sky.”

Sudoku muttered under her breath. “Should have just sliced his neck off right then and there…” Danny elbowed her.

Felix turned towards them, realizing that Signum do speak common, but decided not to comment on that. He just looked back to Mahanon. “They’re obsessed with you that they’re willing to unravel time, but I don’t really know why you. Perhaps because _you_ survived the temple of Sacred ashes?”

“You _can_ close rifts,” Dorian pointed out the obvious. “Maybe there’s a connection? Or they see you as a threat?”

Danny scoffed at that. “Or maybe, they’re the ones behind the breach, and they don’t like Mahanon because he stopped it from growing?”

Felix’s brows narrowed at that, concerned. “If the Venatori is behind that terrible explosion, then they are even worse than I thought.”

And shit got real.

They already had the first part of their plan and that was to walk into a trap that Alexius surely would have set up the next time they’ll meet him. As they were about to part ways, now that they have things settled, Adrian couldn’t help but to call out to Felix, running towards him and stopping in front of him. Felix blinked and he gave his full attention to the Signum fellow.

The others waited, watching curiously as Adrian talked quietly with Felix, and afterwards, they bid farewell. Felix watched the Adrian go curiously as returned to his group.

Danny raised a questioning brow to Adrian, who gestured with his hands, signing, ‘We will talk later’.

Dorian came with them because Mahanon invited him along to come back with them to Haven. He had already decided that they were going to deal with Alexius first. However, even though they have a stranger presence with them, it did not stop the others from interrogating Danny.

“I don’t knooooow why it didn’t work!” Danny said for the last time to Vivienne, who was still puzzled. Even Dorian was questioning him too when Varric filled in what happened with the rift at the Redcliffe’s gates. All of them were stuck in this slow-mo area, but Danny was not affected.

“And the language. What language were you speaking, Charming?” Varric questioned. “Even our mighty Heraldness here was speaking it as well.”

“Mahanon’s a show-off!” Danny barked out at which the said elf just rolled his eyes at his friend. Seriously, Mahanon was just too much of a Marty Stu sometimes. The guy got better at everything just too damn well, even the Tagalog language. “…Anyway, it’s our home language. From where we came from.”

At this point, the Inner party knew that the people of Signum came from somewhere else, but only the Advisors of the Inquisition _knew_ for sure that they came from another _world_. The less people that know it the better.

“Signum right? Where did Signum come from other than the Free Marches?” Dorian questioned. “I’ve heard so much about you and your people about your strange machines and weapons. I also heard you also refuse to trade with Tev-”

“And we also claim you guys as our enemies,” Danny cut him off. “No offense to you, but your people are slavers. We as a whole are against slavery. Not only that, but Tevinter had also murdered some of our people, so really, we’re not big fans of your country.”

“Enough.” Mahanon interrupted. “No biting, Danny.”

Danny gawked. “Me?! You’re scolding me?!”

Mahanon pulled him away as they walked farther ahead from the group. He whispered to him, “Your hostility is showing. Like really. You’re like a mabari growling viciously at Dorian, who is right now an ally. I know you hate Tevinter, but right now, _heel_.”

He gave the elf a scowl for the ‘dog’ command. “I’ll tolerate him, but I’m not playing nice. I mean, come on, Mahanon! That guy is wearing an _evil moustache!_ ”

Mahanon just shoved him before steering back to walk with the group.

Later on, they arrived back at a holding camp of the Inquisition, and Adrian called for a meeting. Signum only. The other party was perhaps a little put off and jealous being excluded, but this was something very important.

The four of them moved to a more private and safe location, and Adrian told them the news.

“They found a cure for the _blight?_ ” Mahanon gaped.

Adrian continued. “It isn’t absolute, but… before the project was shut down, the cultivation of the cure was already in its trial stages, but the trials were never started because we didn’t have people that were infected with the blight. I supposed the team planned to head out and look for blighted Thedosians, but Danny’s Dad cancelled all projects commandeered by… you know who… So… anyway, we’re ready to start testing, and that’s why I went up to ask Felix what sort of sickness he had.”

Danny blinked. “You…actually asked him if he had the blight?”

“Well…yeah…”

“Danny, this is _huge_.” Mahanon interrupted him. “Signum finding a cure for the blight? Do you have any idea of the implication for that? What that would mean for Thedas? I mean… how do we get the cure to Felix?”

He grimaced a bit but resigned, saying, “I’ll need to contact Arnav back at Haven via radio.”

Danny didn’t know what to think of it… to even suggest… what if… In all honesty, Danny was against this project and it’s only because Dr. Nguyen oversaw its research and studies. It…felt like a taboo. Like…betrayal…but this project had good intentions, something he’ll need to see the Brightside of all the murder.

He decided not to argue and even gave Adrian the okay with it.

They returned to the campfire and they ate quietly. When it was time to sleep, Danny took first watch. Adrian politely offered a second spot to Dorian in his tent of which they can share (Not anyone was willing to share a tent with a Tevinter who might just betray them out of nowhere, Bless Adrian’s soul). Everyone was heading to sleep, but Cassandra was the last one to turn in. Instead, she went over to Danny, arms crossed.

Danny blinked. “…yes?”

“I thought we were done with the secrecies.” She said.

He raised a brow at her. “…Uhh…what are you talking about?”

“The rift… the time loops… they didn’t affect you. Why?” She demanded.

Danny looked at her, hoping his acting skills were up to par as he shrugged his shoulders dramatically. “I… don’t… knoooow??”

She scoffed. “You are either a very a good actor… or a very good liar.”

“I… What?” Danny paused, mulling over that accusation.

Her brows furrowed even more. “Or the latter.”

Danny stared at her before he gestured for her to sit down. She gave him a long stare before conceding as she sat across from him. He leaned in closer so they could have a private conversation.

“Look… telling you and the advisors that Signum is…from _that_ place? I would be court martialed. I haven’t even told my father of me sharing the secret… I want you to know that this secret is also something that I need an okay with—not from my father, but from _my_ team, because if I tell you, I’ll reveal them too.”

She seemed to understand before she leaned back, sighing, “What if your secrets will get someone hurt?”

“They won’t... Trust me, Cassandra.”

“I don’t understand how you all can continue living in secret with everyone asking the questions. Who are you? Where are you from?”

Danny chuckled. “Well, we usually let them make questions but never give them any answers… There are three important rules in Signum. Number one: Thedosians are not to know that we’re from…another place.” He was still being careful with his words, thinking the others might be listening in their tents. “Number two: natives are not to have possession of guns or gunpowder, or any other weapons advance of their time. Lastly, number three: Do not get involved in any Thedas problem. Look after only Signum Citizens.”

Cassandra frowned at that. “…You do know you’ve broken all three of those rules, right?”

“Exactly! Those three rules are meant to be broken but _over time_. Our people are trying to integrate into Thedas. We’re trying to learn how to live with you guys without causing some sort of all-out war… And so those rules are set up so that we _slowly but surely_ get to know Thedas… Besides, from what I gathered, a lot of people here always fear the unknown, and then lash out if it doesn’t make sense… that’s why we didn’t bring out the jeeps until we were sure we had enough trust with the people of Thedas.”

She opened her mouth to protest, before pausing, thinking over and then closing her mouth, frowning deeply. “…Your people are wise.”

He shook his head. “Don’t compliment us so fast. We are wise enough and only because we’ve learned from our history of carnage and destruction. Cass… we destroyed our home… We’re not going to make the same mistakes here, not if we can help it.”

The silence didn’t last long as they ventured into more relaxing topics and with Danny telling stories—or at least, retelling some really good movies. Soon four hours had passed since Cassandra joined in on the watch. Six hours had passed and they decided to call it in for the night and get someone to take their shift. Cassandra went to her tent and Danny went to another to wake Varric up.

“You were on watch for six hours? You know you were supposed to wake me two hours ago, right?”

“It’s fine. Go. Your turn.” Danny said with the volume of his voice lowered before plopping down on his bedroll.

Varric sighed as he got up, getting his coat on before venturing out in the cold Ferelden winter to take watch.

.

.

.

When they arrived at Haven three days later, they immediately went to the war room, including Danny. The announcement of a magister residing in Redcliffe and taking the free mages was not at all they expected as Mahanon explained every little detail on what had happened when meeting Magister Alexius. It should also be worth mentioning that a letter from the Magister also arrived this morning to make a meeting to continue negotiations.

Except that Magister Alexius invited him alone.

“The letter from Alexius asked for the Herald of Andraste by name. It’s an obvious trap.” Josephine pointed out.

“Does it matter?” Lavellan questioned incredulously. “There’s no choice in the matter. We can’t just stand by.”

Leliana glanced over to him before saying, “And yet some of us want to sit down and do nothing.”

That was obviously shot towards Josephine who glared and groaned, “Not this again.”

Cullen was in agreement with her as he supported, “Redcliffe is one of the most defensible fortresses in Ferelden. It has repelled thousands of assaults.”

The Commander then faced Mahanon directly and said, “If you go in there, you’ll die. And we’ll lose the only means we have of closing these rifts. I won’t allow it.”

This was just stupid talking about all of this. “So, what? We just leave a foreign hostile armed with enslaved mages alone in Redcliffe?”

Josie shook her head, “Danny, even if we could assault the keep, it would be for naught. An _Orlesian_ Inquisition’s army marching into Ferelden would provoke a war. Our hands are tied.”

Cassandra grimaced and tried to argue still.

“The Magister--”

“—Has outplayed us.” Cullen cut her off and finished her statement.

Mahanon crossed his arms, thinking hard on this, and he turned to Danny. “Is the Cavalry capable of covert operations?”

“They’re all qualified for it, but only a few of them were trained for covert, though that may be enough if Adrian, Sudoku, and I join them.” Danny responded. They have the cavalry after all, so it should be fine to use them for Inquisition goals.

Sudoku crossed her arms. “Count me out.”

Mahanon turned to her. “Sudoku--”

“I’m _staying_ at your side.” She insisted, and Mahanon stared at her before nodding.

The Herald then turned to the advisors. “We don’t have to bring an army then. Just a small team to infiltrate the keep. Other than the main gate, there’s got to be another way into the castle. A sewer? Water course? Something?”

Cullen frowned. “There’s nothing I would know of that would work.”

Thankfully, the spymaster gave them the answer they needed. “Wait…there is a secret passage into the castle, an escape route for the family. It’s a narrow passage, so I can send my agents along with Danny through it.”

“Too risky.” Cullen shut it down. “Those agents will be discovered well before they reach the Magister.”

At this point, Danny wanted to reveal about their powers. He, himself, could disable the wards without even knowing them there. He would know what to do, and before he could tell him not to worry about that, Dorian barged through the doors unannounced.

“Fortunately, you’ll have my help.” He said as he walked right up besides them, specifically next to Adrian. “Your spies will never get past Alexius’ magic without my help. So, if you’re going after him, I’m coming along.”

Danny protested, “Uhh, no. We’re fine, thanks.”

Dorian wore an unimpressed look, and all of them glanced at the Herald’s away. Mahanon mulled over the plan before he overruled him, “…Danny. Dorian Pavus is going with you.”

They made displeased expressions before Mahanon continued explaining the plan as he and a small entourage will enter the main gate, giving the visit that Alexius so much desired.

When everything has been settled and decided, the meeting was adjourned and preparations were put into placed—well, not after, Signum went after Mahanon.

“You know, we’d be okay without any assistance, right? Unless you’ve forgotten?”

Mahanon rolled his eyes at Danny. “I know what you all are capable of, but I have a feeling Dorian will make an entrance with or without you. I’d rather it’d be with us, and that we are cooperating with one another.”

The rest of the night was uneventful as they had a quick small dinner at the tavern. It was a quiet meal until they heard a commotion happening outside. They could hear guitar strumming and people singing softly from far off through the open window of the tavern. After they finished eating, those who were the curious among them went to investigate the music.

Danny found his people in the gathering of the small campfire where Varric usually linger during the day, talking to people, and he saw that Samuel was playing the guitar while the others were singing—at least those that knew the song very well.

_It's not always rainbows and butterflies_

_It's compromise that moves us along, yeah_

_My heart is full and my door's always open_

_You come anytime you want, yeah._

Even Dorian couldn’t stop himself from the allure of this strange unheard lyrical music. They found him there, standing a little far off, but clearly listening. Adrian went to move beside him.

“What song is this?” Dorian quietly asked, mesmerized by, not only the song, but the people singing along with it as they knew it by heart.

“A Maroon 5 song. Really old. Signum.” Adrian explained to him simply as if he should understand. Danny doubt Dorian understood but the Altus just hummed and nodded as if he did.

_I don't mind spending every day_

_Out on your corner in the pouring rain_

_Look for the girl with the broken smile_

_Ask her if she wants to stay awhile_

_And she will be loved_

_And she will be loved_

_And she will be loved_

_And she will be loved_

At the last stanza, many of them, both Signum and Thedosians were singing.

.

.


	20. The Walk to Redcliffe

.

.

.

PAST

 

Mahanon led Danny through the forest in an unpaved path, mostly following along the flowing stream. Danny stopped as he knelt down to collect the water. The elf paused as well, watching with interest.

“What is that…?” He questioned the strange cylindrical apparatus. He watched over his shoulder, examining the device as close he as could without taking too much space. Water wasn’t coming inside of it too quickly, but a little bit was making through.

Danny smiled. “This? It’s a water bottle with a filter.”

“Water…bottle… filter?”

“It’s something that my people made.”

“You humans do have strange inventions. Such as your clothing…”

“We’re not like other humans. We’re a pretty small village. Deep in the _hidden leaf village_.”

Mahanon furrowed his brows. “ _Hidden leaf village?_ ”

“Or village hidden in the leaves.” It wasn’t technically true, but Danny found it extremely amusing to borrow such references even if the elf didn’t understand.

“I’ve never heard of such a thing…” Mahanon stated as he walked off.

Danny finished up with the water as he closed the lid. “Well, obviously, that’s why it’s a secret.”

He caught up to him as he continued to follow the elf, who said he was taking him to his clan to restock. Wycome was a more extended trip than he had planned for. On foot, it would take him a week to get there. He hadn’t realized the distance was that great.

Danny was a little excited at the prospect of meeting more elves, like Mahanon. He seemed like an okay guy, though his ears twitched a lot.

Mahanon suddenly spoke with an irritated tone. “Do you have a problem with _elves?_ ”

“Huh?” Danny stopped, tilting his head with confusion at the hostility. “Did I do something?”

The hunter’s eyes narrowed with disdain, and his nose cringed with disgust. “You keep staring at my ears.” He accused him. “So, I’d like to know if you have a problem with elves?”

Danny was taken back. “What?? No! Yo, I’m sorry for staring. You’re just the first elf I’ve ever seen.”

That explanation placated the elf’s anger as he stared at him to see any hidden pretenses but when he realized the human was telling the truth, his eyes widened. “…You’ve…never seen an elf before?”

“No, man! You’re the first one! I didn’t mention it last night because I thought it’d be rude or something like that. I guess staring is included, but man, they are _long_ and _pointy_ …! Can you, like, move them?” Danny asked as he fanned his hands up and down, gesturing the motion of moving Dumbo ears. “Because they twitch a lot too.”

Mahanon snarled, baring his teeth. “Now, that’s offensive, _Shem!!_ ” He was gripping his dagger now, deciding whether or not to pull it out from its sheath.

Danny held his hands up defensively, trying to appease. “Whoa, whoa, sorry! Sorry! I swear I mean _nooooo_ offense! I really, honestly, have never seen elves before..!”

Mahanon looked at him a little longer and after a while, he decided to give him the benefit of a doubt. He relaxed a bit, though still put off from his incessant rant. “…Okay. I believe you…for now. Still, I am taking you to my clan, so I must ask you to refrain from such offensive questioning, shem.”

Danny nodded. “Understood. Filter on.”

The Dalish elf gave him a skeptical look before continuing on his path with the young teenage human following along.

It didn’t take too long for them to reach the Dalish camp, hidden behind hills and thick trees that somehow managed to grow even though they mostly block out the light.

“Wait here.” Mahanon told him before leaving him there by the stream with curious and scrutinizing looks were shot at him from afar. More elves were there and they had stopped working when they noticed the strange human.

Danny obediently waited as Mahanon walked over to his clan that were twenty meters away. He saw some staring at him and he waved, smiling. They gave him glares before returning to work.

“Not a friendly bunch,” he noted. Then again, didn’t Kano tell them that the elves were lower class citizens in Thedas? Even lower than the dwarves, and humans treated dwarves equally—sort of. It is no wonder these elves would treat him like a stranger, or someone absolutely dangerous.

He sat down on a boulder, just waiting as time seem to go by and his stomach would growl.

There was a trotting sound and he looked over to see Shira, or Traveler, coming right up to him. She leaned in and sniffed, before snorting amusingly. Danny raised a brow as he reached to pet her head. “Are you laughing at me?” He questioned.

Traveler moved away from his hand and butted it, but she didn’t move from her spot.

Danny moved his hand away. “Geez, sorry, your Highness.”

“Strange. The human is talking to Shira.” He heard a whisper and he looked behind him to see three young elves, poking their heads out from the bushes.

They flinched when he had caught them and quickly they ducked down. He waited a while longer before slowly their heads adorably poked out again from the leaves. Danny smiled warmly and waved at them to come over. They hesitated for a moment before carefully approaching him. Shira now ignored them as she went to go drink at the stream.

The child bravely demanded with arms crossed, “What do you want, Shem?”

Daniel would need to ask Mahanon what shem meant, but for now, the intimidating little guy just made him laugh. “Hahaha, you’re the one spying on me. What did you want?”

“We’re just making sure you’re not dangerous, _Shem!_ ” The smaller one copied the older kid and even stuck his tongue out for good measure.

All the provocation made Danny want to laugh more, but he held it in, not wanting to offend the little guys that are trying to be scary.

“Dangerous? I only know parlor tricks. Wanna see?” He asked, and without waiting for their response, he held his hands up. “See? I have nothing in my hands…”

He then reached over to the ear and pulled back immediately to show off a silver coin. “Ta-da!”

All three kids gaped. One called out, “You’re a mage!”

“Nooo, I’m a _magician_.”

“Magician?” They questioned, their heads simultaneously tilting to the left curiously.

“Hey! Run along now…!” An older elf scolded at the three kids as they did take off back to the clan. Mahanon and another elder was with him as they watch the kids go with pointed looks. They’d be in trouble later.

“I heard Shira brought you to Mahanon,” The elder female said.

Danny stood in attention. “Yeah. My name is Daniel. Or Danny, whichever.”

“And I am Keeper Deshanna of Clan Lavellan. So, where are you going, Daniel?” She asked with a scrutinizing look, though she had concern in her eyes. “You look too young to be far away from home.”

“Wycome. I’m gonna see if I can make it big there on my own.” Danny moved down to his knees as he set his backpack on the ground, unzipping it. The elves looked at the strange pack curiously as it easily opened without laces. Danny took out a coin purse, black leather from inside a hidden pocket of the bag and took out 5 gold pieces.

“Should this be enough to cover?” Danny asked and they both looked at him shock.

The other elder male elven knelt down and held out his hand to see. Danny handed the coins over and the elf examined the coins.

“Tamnar?” Deshanna questioned.

“The coins are real, Deshanna. It’s just I haven’t seen coins this clean.” Tamnar noted with skeptical admiration.

Danny nervously chuckled a bit as he recalled long ago, he did put his coins in tomato ketchup just to get them look clean and shiny.

“Still, this is too much. We would be taking advantage of you, young lad.” Tamnar explained. “Even one sovereign would be over—”

“Keeper!” Someone shouted and two young hunters ran right up to them, ignoring Danielle. There was panic in their expressions which caused those to worry.

The Keeper reached out, placing a comfort hand on the young lad. “What is it? Goodness, catch your breath--”

The panicked young lad interrupted, saying, “It’s _Wyrran!_ Some bandits took him!”

Danny glared at that. Bandits… Man, Elves do have it hard in this world.

.

.

.

PRESENT

 

“Trail mix?”

Cassandra raised a skeptical brow at the snack offered up on Danny’s hand. There was an assortment of peanuts, cashews, raisins, and strangely rainbow colored little pellets.

“What is _that?_ ” She asked, raising a skeptic brow. The others looked over curiously, seeing the strange looking snack. Each and every one of them had a packet of it, but none of them had opened the little paper bag yet to see the contents or even taste it until Danny got hungry. So now, they were on the border on whether they should try it or safely not try it.

Danny casually answered. “Peanuts, raisins, and M&M’s.”

She gave him a pointed look, really telling him to explain the last part, but Danny continued to grin innocently. Mahanon cut in and ended the agent’s fun. “Its rainbow colored, little chocolates, Cassandra.”

Danny threw a look at Mahanon’s back. “Dude, I wanted her to find out on her own.”

Mahanon rolled his eyes at him while Cassandra took the snack now and bit one blue pellet of M&M’s. Her eyes lit up a bit. “It is chocolate… how do you get it to look like blue? Or yellow?”

He grinned. “Candy melt. Complicated process though. I’m not a patisserie or candy-maker so I can’t explain too well of it.”

The Iron Bull took a handful it and deeply moaned in delight. “Mmmm, these remind me of cookies.”

The gang were sharing some of the treats that Sudoku and Adrian still carried on their journey. Danny warned them not to show off too much, and thus they were only sharing the food they had, which were the trail mix, beef jerky, and chicharrons.

So far it had been a hit, and Mahanon assured them that it was one of the supplies that they had ordered from Arnav, who would be coming to Haven in a couple of days.

They were on their way to Redcliffe and recapture it covertly. They were a big group but once they get close to the town, they would split off into their designated teams. The distraction team consisted of Mahanon, Sudoku, Cassandra, the Iron Bull, and Solas. The infiltration team were Dorian, Danny, Adrian, and other Inquisition spies. There was also Kano, who insisted to come along on this mission. Danny suspected he only came along to watch over them and probably report the progress to his father.

With dark approaching, they found a place to camp for the night. Some scouts were preparing the meals for them, and Kano was telling what spices to use. They were grumbling but since he was extremely intimidating, they didn’t argue too much and complied with his directions. The others were setting up their tents until Danny noticed he couldn’t find Adrian or Dorian anywhere.

Miffed and concerned of their disappearance, he excused himself to find them. He found them not too far in the forest, catching Adrian showing his phone to Dorian, who was extremely interested.

“Hey!” Danny cut in.

Adrian jumped a bit and quickly hid his phone, and Danny gave him a look, knowing what he saw. Dorian recovered quicker, asking, “Ah! Daniel. Sorry, were we gone for too long?”

“…Why don’t you head back first, Dorian? I’m going to talk to Adrian alone.”

Dorian didn’t comply, and instead, stood his ground. “Look. I know you and I are not on good terms, and you’ve expressed that much, but you don’t have to take it out on Adrian here. He’s—”

“Stop talking.” Danny cut him off, rolling his eyes a bit. “He’s not in trouble… Adrian.” He pressed.

Adrian was a little relieved and then he gestured to Dorian. “It’s okay, go. I’ll be fine. He’s like a brother to me, you know.”

Dorian blinked at that, looking between them, before he was sure that Adrian was going to be okay. “Well… I’ll go see if I could pitch the tent myself for a bit until you come help me. Maker knows I would need the help.”

With that, Dorian left with a fleur gesture that Danny gave a disdain look. What the hell?

When the mage left, Adrian questioned, “So… if this isn’t about showing Dorian the phone, then what is it?”

“It’s about Dorian, overall. I don’t trust the guy.” He gave it to him straight.

Adrian’s brows furrowed into a frown. “Really? Why? Is it because he’s Tevinter? I didn’t think you’d be so racist.”

Danny sighed. And there was that word he feared. “I wouldn’t be so racist with him if he wasn’t from a country that enslaves people, Adrian. Have you even asked him which side he’s on?”

This time, Adrian lowered his head at that, and obviously, he hadn’t asked Dorian yet whether or not he is against slavery, or for it.

“…You don’t know if he’s for it, or not.” Adrian argued.

“And obviously, neither do you. Just… Adrian, please, just be careful.” Danny pleaded with him. “I’m only looking out for you, and I’m not stopping you nor am I forbidding you from interacting with Dorian, I just want you to be careful.”

Adrian fell silent now, looking away as he was miffed by this talk. Daniel held in a sigh as he walked closer towards and decided to change the topic, “What were you showing him?”

It took a moment for Adrian to perk up a bit as he took out his phone and unlocked it, showing him the last thing that he showed Dorian.

“Here.”

Danny glanced at a picture selfie of Dorian himself, and he made an envious face. “What the f-- God damn it, the guy’s _photogenic_ too??”

But Adrian was smiling happily. “Yes.”

 

 

 

“ _Help!!_ Fasta vass-! He needs help!!”

Dorian cried out, alerting the whole camp in the middle of the night. Danny scrambled up, shirtless and in his dark trousers, rushing out of his tent with Bull and Solas following behind. He looked around to see if there was anyone attacking, but nothing. No. Dorian was at his tent and still gesturing people to come and help.

“Solas!” The Altus called out for the elven mage, and Solas rushed in first towards him.

Danny realized something and he panicked running over inside the tent after Solas.

There was Adrian on his cot having a _seizure_. His body was violently shaking and trembling, and his eyes were wide open—white as an egg.

“ADRIAN!”

Adrian continued to thrash violently and Solas just backed up, letting it happen but also watching to make sure the Signum agent didn’t hurt himself.

“Can’t you help him?” Dorian demanded, frantic about it. Danny was sure the Altus hadn’t seen someone have a seizure before.

“We can’t move him when he’s in this state, we have to wait it out,” Solas calmly explained to the Tevinter, and after a minute or two, Adrian stopped and passed out, eyes closing.

With that done, Solas turned him on his side and cushioned his head. Danny was surprised that the elven apostate knew such a basic knowledge on what to do when someone has a seizure. Not many do.

Solas looked up at Danny. “Does your friend often have seizures?”

“...N-no… His last one was six years ago…” Danny answered calmly.

“Will he be alright?” Danny turned around to see that it was Mahanon who asked the question.

“Yes. He will be fine, Herald.” Solas answered, his eyes not leaving Adrian, still looking him over.

Mahanon nodded. “I’ll inform the camp then that everything’s alright for now.” He said. He looked at Danny first before leaving the tent. They could hear him telling everyone that it had passed. There was nothing to be seen. Sudoku then came right in and she went over to Danny before glancing at Adrian. She looked genuinely scared.

Danny reached out, taking her hand and squeezing it. “Hey. He’s fine… He’s fine.”

Sudoku took a deep breath in and out for a couple of seconds before turning to Dorian. “What happened?”

Dorian held his hands up. “I didn’t do anything. I woke up when my head was being pummeled to mush. I feared for my face and my moustache.”

Sudoku smiled a bit. “…I wasn’t blaming you for anything...”

Danny then interceded. “We’ll stay here with him, if you don’t mind, Dorian… We’d rather keep an eye on him. You can take my cot.”

Dorian looked like he was about to protest but he glanced between the two and realized the familial bonds. He nodded. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you about the head pummeling.” He jokingly said before gathering some of his belongings and headed out of the tent.

Solas, too, retired then but told them to call him if it happens again.

They settled down in the tent and seconds after, Mahanon joined them.

“Dude, no! We don’t all fit!” Danny protested quietly. There wasn’t a lot of room in this tent for three people, let alone four.

“Quiet, you. I’m not as chubby as you.”

“Excuse _you_ , these are muscles!”

Sudoku giggled and she made room for Mahanon as he lied down as well.

“I’m taking first watch on Adrian.” He explained to them and Danny decided to let the elf do so. They appreciated it as they slept with Adrian. It wasn’t the first time they had done this before. After all, they were really close brothers and sisters. To them, it wasn’t so appropriate, especially when they grew up together and spending each and every day together.

Adrian had really scared them.

He woke an hour later.

Adrian shot up from the cot, gasping aloud and stunning the other three to alertness. Danny reached out, grabbing Adrian. “Hey, hey, hey, it’s okay… It’s okay.”

Adrian was gasping and there was already cold sweat dripping down from his temple. He looked at Danny confused before his eyes widened in realization. He reached down in his own pockets and took out a paper-wrapped object.

He looked at it with his eyes wide and his face broke into a grin. “I… I did it!!”

Danny furrowed his brows. “You did… what?”

“I traveled to Arnav’s dream and brought over the cure! I DID IT!”

He blinked. “…Wait… WHAT?!”

Mahanon shushed them all, trying to lower the volume of their voices. They waited a bit before he asked Adrian to explain from the beginning. Back at Haven, Adrian had explained to Arnav via radio about Felix with the blight and that they need the cure. They fear though that the cure might not make it back in time, so Adrian suggested to get it from him through dreams. It hadn’t been done before, but after seeing horror movies and Ghost Hunt anime series, it shouldn’t hurt to try. He had Arnav promise to always keep the cure wrapped up in his pockets, even when he goes to sleep. Sure enough, they met in the dream and Adrian took the wrapped-up object from him, putting it in his own pockets.

Then apparently, he had a run-in with some demons and they had an epic battle of dreams. Adrian was talking really fast and Mahanon had to quiet him down again so that they wouldn’t wake the camp.

“Ohh, and then after the battle, I met Solas.”

Danny shot up at that. “You met Solas? What?”

“Yeah. It was really Solas!” Adrian said, trying to keep his voice down.

Mahanon hummed, crossing his arms. “Solas did say he is a dreamer in the fade.”

Adrian nodded. “Oh, he called me that too, but then he asked me if I was a mage, and I said no. He said it’s not possible… and then I woke up!”

This didn’t bode so well…

Danny wasn’t too amused. “…You know you had a seizure and scared the crap out of Dorian when you whacked him?”

Adrian’s eyes widened, panicking. “I did--? I need to say sorry--”

Both Danny and Sudoku pulled Adrian back down on his ass when he tried to get up. Mahanon just chortled quietly.

“Okay, uh, no. One, it’s 3 a.m. in the morning, you can do that tomorrow, and two, you just freaked him out—you freaked all of us out. So, do us a favor and just go back to sleep. _And_ we’ll talk about the stupid thing you did at a later date.” Danny compromised as he gave Adrian a pointed look.

Adrian looked sheepish before he did lie back down, allowing the others to settle down for sleep again.

“Don’t pull that shit again, Adrian, at least not without telling us in advance.”

“Right… sorry, Danny.”

The morning came a few hours later and everyone slowly woke up from their cots, getting up to eat the breakfast that was already cooking. Kano was surprisingly cooking breakfast. Danny walked over to see what the synth was frying and he blinked surprised.

“Where’d you get eggs?”

“Robins’ nests… There’s bacon already and oatmeal porridge.”

A hot breakfast meal was what everyone needed from being rudely awakened last night. Some had come up to Adrian, asking if he was alright and he said he was fine. He even went to Dorian and apologized to him for hitting him in his sleep. Dorian told him not to worry and just pleaded not to go in to a seizure. ‘I will endeavor not to have a seizure then, or at least not to ruin your moustache’ was Adrian’s reply. Danny watched them, frowning and crossing his arms. Honestly, he didn’t fully trust Dorian yet. The moustache was really getting to him like he’s evil or something…

Or maybe he just didn’t like the moustache.

Nevertheless, when they get the mages back and the whole breach thing was closed, they were returning to Signum for a recap and a meeting with the Commander. Of course, they’d still be in contact with the Inquisition…

He wondered though if it was okay to get this attached.

.

.

“Danny. I tried to speak to Adrian about the incident last night.” Solas said as he and Danny were slowing down their pace, getting behind the group. They noticed but said nothing, though Adrian glanced back nervously at Danny before looking ahead and continuing to chat with Dorian.

That’s right. They still had that problem that Adrian and Solas met in the dream realm.

He responded, “Sheesh, scared the living crap out of us. He hadn’t had a seizure like this for six years now, you know?”

Solas gave him an unimpressed look, but he went on ahead, using his words more bluntly. “I had met Adrian in the fade before he had that seizure. I wanted to ask him how, but he said he’s not allowed to explain, and that I should ask you.”

“Ah…” Danny really needed to initiate a meeting with his teammates if they do get caught with their abilities by strangers, like pretending that they don’t know.

The apostate elf waited for a long while as the silence dragged on. That unimpressed look fell into an irksome expression. “…And you are not speaking either.”

Danny slowly shook his head No. Sooo not speaking either.

But Solas was determined. “Does this also have something to do with the fact that the time anomalies, caused by the rifts in Redcliffe, do not affect you?”

“Okay. Who told? Was it Varric?” Danny demanded a bit. Damn it, someone had to tell this apostate elf about what happened at Redcliffe with those time warps. That day nearly exposed his secret—well, it did, but he was playing it off.

Solas merely confirmed, “And so it is.”

“Okay. We’re done.” Danny said, dismissing this as he clicked his horse, Secretariat a bit, moving ahead and away from the elf, right to another elf, Mahanon.

Mahanon looked to him and whispered, “Questioning too much?”

“Yeah…”

“…You know, with how things getting dangerous, eventually you all are going to have to reveal your powers…”

“Sure, and be subjugated to experiments? No problem.”

“I hardly doubt it’s about that, considering you don’t refuse Dr. Bell’s experiments,” Mahanon noted as he moved the horse a bit farther head, Danny following at his side as they got ahead of the group by two meters. “You’re ashamed of your abilities. You don’t ever want to use it, but you don’t have control over it.”

Danny fell silent at that, looking away. Jesus.

The Herald frowned when he was met with silence. “…Look, I’m speaking to you as a friend. I know that power came from _him_ , but… it’s a part of you and maybe you could use it to spite him… Accept it.”

“Mahanon, I don’t think you know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t I?” Mahanon raised a brow as he held up his marked left hand. “People say that this mark was given to me by the Maker, but I know what Solas said was true. This was the same magic that created the Breach. Someone was trying to unravel the world, and it was with this very same mark—this magic…. But right now, I’m using it to undo his or her work… _He_ didn’t make you Danny, even if he was your Overseer, you’re your own person, and you don’t let that ability define you, you do that yourself.”

Danny sighed, feeling uncomfortable about all this. “…Okay, well… that was some deep conversation, Mahanon, I’ll give you that.”

“I know, and I would like it if you don’t ruin my wisest moment.”

That made Danny laugh. “Your _wisest_ moment?”

Mahanon just smiled at him then he looked ahead. “Look alive, everyone! …We’re here.”

The sun was setting now, getting behind the castle of Redcliffe that was on top of the hill. They were going to stop Alexius, and then they were going to save Felix from the blight.

.

.

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey I'm back! I've been drawing up on how I should do this and decided on what path I'm taking with this. I may have been gone for a long while, but I am determined to finish this!


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